Anthology of Love
by CrystallicSky
Summary: A series of one-word prompts based on my favorite pairing of all time. I intend to reach 100 chapters, eventually meaning prompts for 1,000 words. Rated 'Mature' because I don't trust myself. MUCH CHACK, IN FACT, ALL OF ITS CHACK IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER.
1. Chapter 1

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--  
**

_**1. Chimpanzee-**_

There was something about the way Jack's body moved when under the influence of the Monkey Staff, especially the to-and-fro flick of his prehensile tail, that Chase couldn't help but find enticing.

_**2. Immigration-**_

"Hey, Chase," Jack began as a thought occurred to him while he walked through Times Square with his lover, "you don't have immigration papers, do you? You know how touchy people are about illegal immigrants, these days."

_**3. Yellow-**_

Jack couldn't help but get jealous whenever Chase showed up at a Showdown, every time giving the distinct impression that yellow was his favorite color, but he pretty much forgot about it when the dragon warlord fucked him into a blissful oblivion later, assuring him all the while that he favored snow-white over yellow.

_**4. Cornfield-**_

Jack Spicer acknowledged that his immediate perception of the South was just about as ignorant as everybody elses': that everyone who lived there watched NASCAR religiously, had sex with their relatives, and always kept an eye out for UFOs.

Then again, lying on his back in the middle of a cornfield underneath Chase Young, he also acknowledged that he didn't really care.

_**5. Fireman-**_

Coughing lightly, inhaling deep breaths of cool, winter air, Jack looked up at his handsome, soot-coated and golden-eyed savior.

"Thanks for saving my life, Mr. Fireman," he cooed slyly, "would you like to go for a coffee?"

_**6. Porcupine-**_

Chase blinked at the small creature Jack held in his arms.

"...You bought a porcupine, Spicer?"

His answer came with a delighted giggle. "I know, isn't he cute?! His name is Mister Spiky!"

The warlord's fingers came up to massage his temple, attempting to ward off the fast-approaching migraine.

_**7. Serbia-**_

"Can you read maps, Spicer?" Chase queried out of sheer curiosity.

"Read maps?" the youth echoed in disbelief, "I don't even know the geographic location of Serbia; seriously, is it, like, in Africa, or something?"

_**8. Triathlon-**_

"Oh, Jackie," cooed his aunt, smoothing down a few tousled red locks of hair, "you're breathing so heavily, and your face is so red! You look as if you've just run a triathlon!"

The goth genius could only smile sheepishly and agree as the aging woman prattled on and pinched his cheeks, not really feeling like explaining why she was unconscious on the floor to his mother if he were to tell her that she had been a hair's breadth away from walking in on his fornication with his giant lizard boyfriend.

_**9. Beehive-**_

Antagonizing Chase Young after a lost Showdown was like throwing a rock at a beehive: it just wasn't done.

And so when Jack heard the sounds of crashing and the yowling of jungle cats coming from his lover's citadel, he decided that his 2nd year anniversary gift, a small snow leopard cub cuddled against his chest, could wait just a _little_ longer to meet her new master.

_**10. Mashed Potatoes-**_

Chase groaned in quiet exasperation as Jack confided to him that he often wondered what it would be like to jump into a swimming pool filled with mashed potatoes.

How had he found himself such a _peculiar_ mate?

--

**A/N-**** Ok, that's the first installment of my new random series thing. These are really easy to write, so unless I'm totally super-busy or run out of word prompts, there should be relatively frequent updates.**

**Now, I'm not using any preset challenge here, so the prompts can really be about anything. As a rule, I'll only publish them as grouped chapters of ten, and I figure I'll go to 100 chapters.**

**Sadly, I've decided I'm not taking requests, because I figure that my friends will provide for a greater range of words, seeing that they have no idea what I'm writing for, whereas you guys (though I do appreciate you for reading and reviewing so often) will probably pick the words best conducive to producing the kind of Chack action you want to see. XD**

**So, here's my commentary on this chapter in particular! :)**

_**Chimpanzee-**_** The one that started it all! I've always thought Jack looks cute in monkey form. /./**__

_**Immigration-**_** SRSLY. It's gotten bad when CHASE YOUNG needs immigration papers. XD**

_**Yellow-**_** Chase/Omi: INSERT VOMIT HERE.**

_**Cornfield-**_** Hope the Children of the Corn don't show up. D:**__

_**Fireman- **_**Chase as a fireman: YES.**

_**Porcupine- **_**The first in a very long line of Chack-pets to come…**

_**Serbia- **_**Before I actually looked to see where it was, I had the same guess as Jack. XD**

_**Triathlon-**_** LOL, 'fornication' means 'sex!' XD**__

_**Beehive-**_**I've got the theory that if Chase were ever to turn Jack into one of his warriors (after teaching him how to fight in the first place, of course), he would be a snow leopard. It seems to fit his style more than other big cats that use muscle, claws, and skill to subdue their prey more than anything else. Snow leopards tend to hunt hares and birds as opposed to large game, and ambush them by leaping onto them from far away (up to 46 feet, 14 meters for the rest of you that more than likely use the metric system).**__

_**Mashed Potatoes-**_**See, now Jack's got **_**me**_** wondering, too! D:**

**  
Anywho, there'll be more chapters when I get around to writing them, so stay tuned if you like these kinds of things! **

**:D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--  
**

_**11. Carrot-**_

Chase had pegged his young lover as the vegetable-hating type, but was unprepared for the fuss Jack made refusing to eat even a single carrot offered to him, denouncing it as 'rabbit food'.

_**12. Whipped Cream-**_

Chase tossed his head back with a growling moan as a slender tongue eagerly lapped whipped cream from his navel.

What a _kinky_ lover his Jack had turned out to be!

_**13. Tree-**_

As far as they cared, the world could be falling apart around them; just so long as Chase could lean against the firm, shady tree and Jack could doze quietly with his head on the man's stomach.

_**14. Notebook-**_

It was always mildly shocking to see the hundreds upon hundreds of notebooks Jack kept around his laboratory, every single page filled with detailed schematics and complex calculations.

His favorite notebook by far, however, was a small black one with gold-edged pages, in which he had sketched a lifelike drawing of his idol, standing tall and proud atop a jagged cliff, blood-spatter of his enemies staining his cheeks and his inky-black hair blowing in the wind.

_**15. Puppy-**_

"I know you're a cat-person, Chase," Jack delegated, trying not to annoy the man too much now that he had finally convinced him to come trick-or-treating with him, "but what do you think?"

Judging by the utter lack of composure on the warlord's face at the sight of him wearing a skin-tight outfit, adorned in several places with white fur, a perky, dog-ear headband, and the animatronic tail that responded to his emotions (which he built himself, thank you very much), his lover was seriously considering changing his preference.

_**16. Turtle-**_

Chase scoffed as the beloved theme-song of his Jack's favorite cartoon played loudly in the den of his mansion.

"I cannot believe you watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," he said at long last.

"Hey," the goth protested, "Raphael's hot!"

Chase decided then that he would have to show his young mate how much sexier lizards were than turtles.

_**17. Cone-**_

Chase Young never understood why it seemed to be top priority to tease and torture him with such slow and sensual licks, and Jack Spicer never understood why Chase always pounced on him whenever he tried to enjoy his vanilla ice cream cone.

_**18. Balloon-**_

There really _was_ nothing quite like looking down on the world from a hot-air balloon, cuddled up against your evil, immortal lover, Jack decided.

_**19. Flamingo-**_

"Jack," Chase began tapping his foot in annoyance as he stood just outside his citadel, "what is _this_?"

The goth genius took one look at the object in question. "A flamingo," he stated.

The warlord growled at the answer, not the one he had wanted in explanation for the ridiculous plastic thing before him. "What is it doing _here_?" he demanded.

Jack barely even blinked. "I put it there."

At the furious look he received for purposely dodging the question, he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, asking innocently, "I thought you liked pink, though?!"

_**20. Doll-**_

As Jack instantly moved to obey his every whim, Chase doubted he'd ever seen such a perfect living doll.

--

**A/N: Yep, another chapter of this; it seems the people at my school are more than happy to provide random words for my amusement, so until I totally run out of words that I deem suitable, there will be many more chapters of this in my future. XD**

**I really like these; they're fun and easy, no plot commitments (no real plot to speak of, XD), no gigantic demand to update frequently; overall a very stress-free thing to write in my spare time. Now this doesn't mean that my other stories won't get updated, so don't worry.**

**In any case, commentary time!**

_**Carrot-**_** No comment (which I find hilarious, because I **_**just**_** said 'commentary time' and for the first one, I don't actually **_**have**_** any commentary, XD).**

_**Whipped Cream-**_** Kinky, kinky, kinky! ;P**

_**Tree**_**- I had some seriously fluffy mental imagery for this one. :)**

_**Notebook-**_** I like to think Jack has a wide range of talents/interests; after all, it's mostly canon (he can build robots, he ice-skates, etc.) I suppose you could say I like to think of him as…a **_**Jack**_** of all trades! XD**

_**Puppy-**_** No comment.**

_**Turtle-**_** …**_**I**_** think Raphael's hot. X3**

_**Cone-**_** No comment.**

_**Balloon-**_** No comment.**

_**Flamingo-**_** This begins a **_**legacy **_**in Anthology**_**:**_**the legacy of the FLAMINGO! XD**

_**Doll- **_**No comment.**

**So anyways, be on the lookout for many more of these, because they will be happening!**

**:D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--  
**

_**21. Towel-**_

A week ago, Jack had believed the epitome of comfort to be a fluffy towel after a hot shower.

Now he realized he'd much rather be wrapped in the arms of Chase Young than in some stupid towel.

_**22. Bird-**_

Chase had never been fond of birds, always flitting about hyperactively and chirping loudly, but for _his_ adoring dove of a boy, he made an exception.

_**23. Star Wars-**_

"What are you doing here?!" Chase barked at his lover as the boy was shackled to a post in the middle of the arena.

"I came to rescue you!" Jack insisted, red eyes slightly squinted against the bright light and the grating jeering of the crowd.

Giving a casual glance up at his own shackled wrists and then back to Jack, he commended sarcastically, "Good job."

_**24. Blue Moon- **_

Only once in a blue moon had Chase Young cried, and Jack Spicer had been right there to comfort him when he did.

_**25. Rubber Cement-**_

"Your Jack-bots are held together with rubber cement?" Chase echoed in mild shock.

"Sure," the goth genius confirmed with a sly grin, "you don't think I couldn't build a robot to withstand a few tons of pressure if I wanted to? It's more cost effective if they just fall apart when the monks go at them so that I can collect the pieces later and put them back together, you know?"

_**26. Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubeman-**_

Chase blinked for a long moment. "...What?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders in response to the question, eyes still locked on the colorful gimmick outside of the car dealership across the street. "I don't know, I've always thought they were kinda nifty, I guess."

_**27. Blue-**_

'Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue', wasn't that how the saying went?

Jack pondered this to himself while his surprisingly accepting mother fretted over whether a suit or a dress would be more appropriate for him to wear to his wedding to the man of his dreams.

_**28. Eight-Foot Waves-**_

The scent of blood reached Chase's sensitive nose from deep below the water and, having just killed and eaten some rather large prey, he followed the scent to the surface only out of sheer curiosity, his powerful tail propelling him easily upwards.

The sight that met his cold, black eyes was a guppy; unconscious with his long, frilled tail severely fractured, lying limp and barely breathing on a stone that protruded from the water as eight-foot storm-waves crashed all around him.

Without so much as a sound, the Great White carefully scooped the poor injured mer into his arms and then quickly disappeared back under the water.

_**29. Family Guy-**_

When Chase asked him whether or not he wanted some ice cream, Jack answered, "Yes, but God help you if I find any sprinkles; for every sprinkle I find...I shall kill you!"

Chase merely groaned in exasperation and walked off to fetch the frozen treat.

_**30. South Park-**_

"Who's my creme-puff?"

Chase's eyebrow twitched, but he nonetheless answered, "I am."

"Who's my creme-puff?"

Why did he put up with this you may ask?

"I am."

Because role-playing got fun when the reins changed hands.

"Ah, Professor Chaos, what are you doing?!" Jack screeched as Chase tackled him and straddled his hips.

"I'm sorry, General Disarray," he apologized with a sharp smirk, "but you've tried my patience for the last time; I simply _must_ have my way with you, now..."

--

**A/N: **

_**Towel- **_**:3**__

_**Bird-**_** No comment.**__

_**Star Wars-**_** I want to say this scene happened in the second Star Wars movie; not the second one to come out, the **_**chronologically**_** second one. /./**__

_**Blue Moon-**_**Silv actually wrote a fic inspired by this one on her deviantART account (Ch4ckSl4sher) titled 'Ray of Remorse.' I would recommend it.**__

_**Rubber Cement- **_**No comment.**__

_**Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubeman-**_** …**_**yeah.**_** /./**

_**Blue-**_** "Do I hear wedding bells?" "What? NO." "Oh…oh, dear." XD**__

_**Eight-Foot Waves-**_** There shall be more to this saga…**__

_**Family Guy-**_** No comment.**__

_**South Park- **_**No comment.**

**New chapter very soon, because these things are addicting.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**31. Flamboyant-**_

Chase had known his then soon-to-be lover's sexuality the very minute he'd laid eyes on him.

Jack was just so damned _flamboyant_!

_**32. Ditching-**_

"Good little boys shouldn't ditch class, Mr. Spicer..."

Jack gasped, posture straightening automatically from his slouch against the outside wall of the high school. "P-principal Young! I-I-" His stuttered, half-baked explanation was cut off by a husky chuckle.

"Please," the man insisted, plucking the cigarette from the teenager's lips and quickly discarding it, "call me Chase..."

The taste of nicotine in the youth's mouth was quickly overpowered by that of his principal's tongue.

_**33. Cheese-**_

"What if the moon really _was_ made of cheese?"

Chase was silent for a moment before lightly connecting his palm to the back of his lover's head. "Don't be foolish," he ordered, "just enjoy the moonlight."

_**34. George Lopez-**_

"He's a good comedian, sure, but this," Jack gestured to the TV playing George Lopez's sitcom, "is too much!"

Chase took the initiative to 'click' the television off, pushing the goth back onto the couch. "Then why not do something else?" he purred hungrily.

_**35. Red-**_

The color red had many connotations: blood, passion, love, anger, intensity, and importance.

So, naturally, then, when Jack Spicer, famous Broadway actor of 1862, found a single, thorned red rose with three braided ribbons of gold, green, and black tied around the stem on his bureau after a performance, he wasn't quite sure _what_ to think.

_**36. Green-**_

Chase wasn't very easily amused, but after seeing Omi with a green top hat glued to his head and wearing a small green suit (with which his usual monk robes had been replaced) on a St. Patrick's Day Showdown, the dragon had howled with laughter, commending Jack on his clever prank.

_**37. Sun-**_

Jack's poor albino body was sensitive to sunlight, but if it would make Chase happy, he would gladly spend a whole day in that loathsome light.

_**38. Calculator-**_

Whenever, due to boredom, Jack recited to him, from memory, the first 145 digits of pi, Chase reflected on what a marvel it was that the boy hadn't been hauled off to a hazardous carnival somewhere and been exhibited in a freak-show as 'The Amazing Human Calculator.'

_**39. Game-**_

Jack had gotten sick of the game Chase was playing with him, and so finally, in the middle of a derogatory sentence aimed at him, he simply went up and kissed the man.

...and was quickly gratified to feel Chase's fingers in his hair pushing his head _closer_ instead of tugging it _away_.

_**40. Watch-**_

Jack was a teenaged boy, and every so often, his urges got the better of him.

He never knew that his idol watched him as he reached his peak, crying out the man's name in total ecstasy.

--

**A/N: 3 chapters in one day: a new record! :D**

_**Flamboyant-**_** …You **_**all**_** were thinking it/know its true! XD**

_**Ditching- **_**Fuck smoking in the boy's room; make out with your principal instead! (Seriously, though, **_**don't**_**: they're usually old or ugly.)**__

_**Cheese-**_** Now I want string cheese… /./**

_**George Lopez-**_** No comment.**

_**Red- **_**Phantom of the Opera inspired! ;P**__

_**Green-**_** I **_**so**_** wish this would happen. I **_**really**_** do. X3**

_**Sun- **_**No comment.**__

_**Calculator-**_** No comment.**__

_**Game-**_** No comment.**

_**Watch-**_** Jackie touches himself, and Chase watches in case you didn't gather that… /./**

**In any case, there'll probably be more later, but don't worry: I'm tired for tonight, so I'm not writing even **_**one**_** more of them. Tomorrow may very well be a different story, but we'll see how that goes! ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**41. Wall-**_

Groaning as a wave of nausea washed over him, his head pounding with a vengeance from the intense, depressive drinking he'd done the night before, Jack thought to himself that he had surely hit the wall.

Who needed that cheating bastard, anyways?!

The thought of those golden eyes filled with love for someone else, however, sent pain flaring in his heart, and he was forced to admit the truth: _he_ did.

_**42. Lock-**_

Chase hissed in displeasure, furious with himself.

He had known it was a mistake, but...

He snarled again at his own stupidity, resisting the urge to kill something as he stared at the door in front of him, behind which was his disgustingly hung-over lover.

The boy _knew_ that it wouldn't stop him, but it still hurt that he had locked the door.

_**43. Fire-**_

Sometimes it scared Chase, the intensity, the fire of his passion for his beloved Jack.

_**44. Number-**_

Chase laughed aloud at the look on his lover's face after hearing exactly how old he was.

"Age is just a number, Jack," he chuckled.

"Yeah," the youth agreed, eyes still a bit wide from the information, "a _four-digit_ number, in your case."

_**45. Draw-**_

If there was one thing Chase would admit of Jack, the warlord thought, a small black notebook in his hand, it was that his drawing skills could really paint a picture.

_**46. Super-**_

Even with his super-human nature, Chase simply wasn't strong enough to resist the sight of Jack in his bed wearing an enticing look and nothing else.

_**47. Doors-**_

Jack had always had the feeling that it had been done on purpose, but now that he and Chase were together, his previous suspicions were confirmed when not a single door in his lover's palace opened on him.

_**48. Bricks-**_

Chase hadn't been expecting Jack to be so possessive of their relationship, and certainly hadn't expected him to kiss him brutally, not sparing a painful use of teeth on his lip, and then to tug fiercely on his long hair, snarling, "You complement Cheeseball again, and I'll smash a brick over your head."

Somehow, he knew the goth was serious.

_**49. Crash-**_

Chase didn't realize how truly _dull_ his long life had become until the very embodiment of excitement crashed into his arms and changed everything.

_**50. Bus-**_

Chase and Jack always reveled in the fact that they could piss off the snooty cheerleaders just by making out in the back of the bus.

--

**A/N:**

_**Wall- **_**ANGST.**

_**Lock- **_**Continuation of **_**Wall**_** from…right before it. XD**

_**Fire-**_** No comment.**__

_**Number-**_** LOL, Chase is an old man! XD**__

_**Draw- **_**Continuation of **_**Notebook **_**from Chapter 2.**__

_**Super- **_**Jack's just too sexy: he cannot be resisted. ;P**__

_**Doors-**_** An XS phenomenon put to a stop by smexing. XD**__

_**Bricks-**_** I likes me some possessive-Jack! ;3**__

_**Crash- **_**No comment.**__

_**Bus- **_**Hooray for pissing off snooty cheerleaders! XD**

**And therein ends my author's note. Hope you liked the chapter! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**51. Chalkboard-**_

His teacher always got all pissed off when she asked Jack things like "What is the hottest substance on Earth?" and "What is one of the most powerful forces known to man?" and his answer on the chalkboard was invariably "Chase Young" when she _apparently_ had wanted "lava" and "hurricanes."

_**52. Shoe-**_

Chase severely questioned his mate's mental state upon finding both a heavily-buckled black boot and a pastel-pink high-heeled shoe (_claimed_ to be his mother's) in Jack's room.

_**53. Purse-**_

"It's not a purse!" Jack insisted, holding the object in question protectively away from clearly unconvinced golden eyes. "It's just a bag."

Chase merely scoffed, letting the subject drop in favor of coaxing his lover into more _enjoyable_ activities...

_**54. Snow-**_

It was funny, Chase decided: Jack's skin was the color of snow, but _always_ seemed to be soft and warm to his touch.

_**55. Jacket-**_

The goth genius loved his black trench coat, but his evil boyfriend loved the jacket far better when it was lying on his floor, abandoned in the heat of passion.

_**56. Table-**_

Surely, Chase thought to himself, looking smugly at his uninvited dinner guest, Wuya wouldn't be so comfortable eating if she knew the kind of obscene things he had done to Jack on this very table only the night before.

_**57. Envelope-**_

Jack grinned foolishly as he noted that the envelope containing the newest letter from his lover had been sealed with possibly _the_ corniest heart-sticker he had ever seen.

_**58. Mouse-**_

It was uncanny how much Jack was like a mouse, easily frightened and intimidated, a common form of prey for reptiles.

Lucky for him, Chase was _always_ up for a good game of cat and mouse.

_**59. Dragon-**_

The dragon within roared in fury at it's mate's uncanny tendency to get himself into dangerous situations, and decided then and there that it would just be easier to lock the boy in his bedroom until their pups were born and would not be endangered with their mother.

_**60. Clock-**_

The hands on the clock could whiz by for a thousand years, and Chase wouldn't age a single day.

In another year or two, he would allow the same for his beloved.

--

**A/N:**

_**Chalkboard- **_**What? Its true! XD**__

_**Shoe- **_**…**_**yeah…**_** /./**__

_**Purse- **_**Hooray for manly bags! XD**__

_**Snow- **_**No comment.**__

_**Jacket- **_**"Hello, Spicer; that's a nice jacket you have on. I believe it would look much nicer, however, were it to be splayed upon my floor." "FTW! YES!"**__

_**Table- **_**LOL, she has **_**no idea!**_** XD**__

_**Envelope- **_**No comment.**__

_**Mouse- **_**No comment.**__

_**Dragon- **_***cough*mpreg*cough* /./**__

_**Clock- **_**No comment.**

**So...um, yeah.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**61. Index Card-**_

"...Why did you label this 'index card' in red Sharpie?"

Jack scoffed at what he deemed a stupid question. "Duh, Chase! Maybe because it _is_ one?"

_**62. Paper-**_

Jack never would have guessed how skillful in origami his lover was without seeing it himself, the ease with which a small piece of paper could be transformed into something delicate and beautiful in those powerful hands.

_**63. People-**_

If there was only one thing he had in common with his lover, Jack thought, looking with annoyance and distaste at the couple making out (if it could still be considered something so tame) in the middle of the hallway, severely blocking the flow of traffic, it was that he _hated_ people.

_**64. Goal-**_

Jack had thought Chase's only goal in life was to cause him misery.

Now, though, lying in the man's bed with an arm curled tightly around his waist, he realized he had only been teasing him, heightening his fervor and desire so that when he finally told him 'yes'...

Well, frankly, the sex had been _amazing_.

_**65. Guns-**_

Chase didn't know just who had dared to gun down his beloved (thankfully alive and well), but he was the leader of the Heylin street gang: they would _not_ be getting away with it.

_**66. Germs-**_

"I mean, sure," the common cold germ, Jack, preached to his viral lover, "you took out over two-thirds of Europe's population in your hey-day, and I haven't killed _anyone_, but there's not a cure for me yet, is there?"

_**67. Steel-**_

It never ceased to amaze him, the sheer _number_ of things his young lover could create with steel.

_**68. Quadrilateral-**_

"Yeah? Well, your _mom's_ quadrilateral!"

Chase put a hand on his forehead at Jack's comeback, groaning as the friend he'd been speaking to gasped in horror, demanding, "You take that back!"

_Foolish nerd fights..._

_**69. Bruise-**_

Chase growled as he examined the large bruise on his mate's cheek, previously concealed by makeup.

Forcing the dodgy red eyes to meet his stern golden gaze, he practically hissed, "Who did this to you?"

_**70. Cauliflower-**_

"Come again?" Chase asked, _positive_ he had heard wrong.

"They look like little white trees," Jack repeated, "I just can't eat them because it would be weird to me."

--

**A/N:**

_**Index Card- **_**I actually have an index card with that written on it, and as ironic as it is, I've been having people write the words I use for this on it. XD**__

_**Paper- **_**No comment.**__

_**People- **_**I, personally, announce my hate of people aloud at least once daily. /./**__

_**Goal- **_**No comment.**__

_**Guns-**_** This one**_**, Germs, **_**and **_**Steel**_** actually came from a movie we had to watch in World Studies of the same title theorized by Jared Diamond who determined that the key to a civilization being powerful is whoever got the best guns, germs, and steel first, and apparently, one of my friends couldn't resist the reference. XD**__

_**Germs- **_**Yay Osmosis Jones inspiration! :D**__

_**Steel- **_**No comment.**__

_**Quadrilateral- **_**I would say something like this to somebody. ^^;**__

_**Bruise-**_** Protective-Chase is mweeful! :3**__

_**Cauliflower- **_**…they **_**do**_**, though… /./******

But, that's all I really have to say here, so...new chapter will probably be up later tonight(2/7/08).


	8. Chapter 8

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**71. Plumber-**_

Chase answered his door one night, totally surprised to see one Jack Spicer there.

"Hey, Chase," the youth greeted, "my mom apparently thought it was a good idea to flush an old checkbook down the toilet, and now she's doing the plumber for free pipe-work; can I stay here for the night?"

The warlord could think of no other reply but, "If you plan to repay me with the same kind of currency as your mother is paying the plumber, then you are more than welcome to stay here."

_**72. Rhino- **_

Chase found it somewhat (dare he say it?) _cute_ that no matter how old his mate got, Jack insisted upon sleeping with (or at least near if Chase would forbid the former) a stuffed, grey rhino he had gotten from his father and affectionately named Plasty.

_**73. Forest-**_

Prince Young was under constant pressure to marry, and today he would finally go into the forest and propose to the sweet young nymph by the name of Jack who'd captured his heart months ago.

That would shut his advisers up.

_**74. Germany-**_

"I used to have a pen-pal boyfriend from Germany," Jack mentioned off-handedly, his head laying comfortably in his lover's lap.

"Guess where we aren't going for seventy-or-so years?" Chase shot right back.

_**75. Telegram-**_

"The _worst_ job I ever had?" Jack echoed. "Singing telegram deliverer. You have _no idea_ how many doors were slammed in my face."

Chase blinked at him for a moment. "You know, I think I do," he surmised.

"Hey!"

_**76. Top Hat-**_

When his mother insisted that he dress nicely for the shareholders' gala she was holding, she certainly wasn't expecting Jack to show up in a tuxedo and top hat, outfit complete with a monocle, practically hanging off his armored boyfriend's arm and exclaiming, "Good day, old chaps! Lovely evening we are enjoying, isn't it?"

_**77. Dentist-**_

Jack found it funny that, after everything he'd seen Chase face without so much as flinching, the man cringed with the smallest of shivers at the word, 'dentist.'

_**78. Seaweed-**_

Laying the limp body in his arms onto the beach, Chase carefully applied seaweed to the guppy's bloodied tail. It was a sea-renowned healing agent for stemming blood-flow.

A soft groan caught his attention, and when Chase looked, the injured creature had awakened, and let out a frightened squeak upon seeing him: a common reaction of prey to his black eyes, white-grey tail, and the pointed fin on his back.

"Relax," he soothed the terrified creature, "I'm not going to eat you. You may call me Chase."

Still largely unconvinced, but at least no longer shaking, the guppy replied, "Jack...um, pleased to meet you, I guess..."

_**79. Wrinkle-**_

As Chase's lips parted from his own, Jack stuttered out, "O-oh...th-that's a new wrinkle..." before promptly fainting.

_**80. Grandpa-**_

Jack confided to his lover that, though he respected him highly, his real idol was his grandpa, a soldier who had given his life for what he believed in.

Granted, the teen didn't exactly believe in fighting for his country, but the principle was nonetheless the same.

It just so happened that getting with an ageless, evil dragon and taking over the world was something Jack _really_ believed in.__

--

**A/N:**

_**Plumber- **_**No comment.**__

_**Rhino- **_**I really hope my little joke in this one didn't go unnoticed, because...sadly enough, I'm ridiculously proud of it. XD**__

_**Forest- **_**No comment.**__

_**Germany- **_**No comment.**__

_**Telegram- **_**Poor Jack; called out by his own lover. /./**__

_**Top Hat-**_** LOL, BRITISH WUT? XD**__

_**Dentist- **_**No comment.**__

__S_**eaweed- **_**Continuation of **_**Eight-Foot Waves**_** from Chapter 3.**__

_**Wrinkle- **_**No comment.**__

_**Grandpa- **_**No comment.**__

__**In any case, newest chapter's up...so, nothing else to really say.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**81. Warrior-**_

A warrior at heart, a hunter, Chase could never resist when his beloved issued a challenge by running away or hiding from him.

_**82. Orange-**_

If Jack peeled even _one_ orange, the scent lingered on his hands for days, but he could touch Chase for hours on end, and within minutes, the man's scent would be gone.

How he _wished_ the two would switch places!

_**83. Feather-**_

"Sorry I sprained my ankle, thus forcing you to carry me home, Chase," Jack apologized, purely sincere.

"Please," Chase scoffed, easily shifting the boy's weight in his arms, "you are barely more than a feather to me."

_**84. Antelope-**_

Chase's cats always knew the second Jack Spicer entered their master's palace, his scent instantly marking him as prey, like the weakest member of a pack of antelope on a Saharan plain.

A vicious stare promising pain and suffering the likes of which they'd never known, however, made it perfectly clear that this was one antelope that was strictly off-limits.

_**85. Faery-**_

Oberon dearly cared for his fairy servant, Puck, and was infinitely glad to have finally chosen him over that insufferable wench, Titania.

_**86. Fly Trap-**_

Chase Young, a royal in control of the most powerful kingdom of the age, had been reduced to retreating to the palace gardens to find even a small thrill of happiness.

How pathetic.

A small 'snap' reached his ears, however, as he rested in the garden one night, and shortly afterwards, a pained yelp.

Following the sound out of curiosity, the prince's eyes widened upon seeing a small, white creature struggling within the 'jaws' of a Venus Flytrap.

Upon noticing the much larger being, it spoke, "Um, I'd hate to inconvenience you," the creature sounded male, "but could you get me out of this? I'd rather not be digested."

Blankly shocked, Chase easily pried open the plant, freeing the pale creature, who then proceeded to alight in his palm.

"Thanks," it chirped, "I was almost fertilizer, there!"

Upon closer examination, the entity seemed humanoid, just smaller than Chase's thumb, with white hair and skin, red pupil-less eyes, and a pair of translucent dragonfly wings.

"My name's Jack," he introduced. "I'm a flower spirit here in your garden. It's nice to finally meet you!"

Chase blinked, taking in the looks of the small, exotic creature in his hand. "Likewise, I assure you..."

_**87. Eel-**_

"Aw, Xerxes is _so_ adorable!" Jack squealed.

Chase thoroughly examined the eel on his mate's television screen: the pink-brown body, the dark violet frills, and the lop-sided eyes, one small and bloodshot, the other large and expressive, not to mention the sharp rows of jagged teeth.

"There's something _very_ wrong with you, Jack," he concluded.

_**88. Grape-**_

"Grapes are the fruit of hope," the goth declared. "If you get a bad apple or peach, you're stuck with that bad-tasting fruit. Get a bad grape? You've got, like, thirty more chances to get a better one."

"...Remind me again," Chase pleaded. "Exactly _what_ sparked this discussion, Spicer?"

_**89. Reverse Psychology-**_

"You know what?! Fine! I never liked you anyways!" Jack exclaimed with a huff, storming away from Chase, only to be spun around and kissed fiercely in a fiery, dominant kind of way, and when it ended, scorching golden eyes practically spoke.

_You are __**mine**__,_ they said. _How dare you even __**think**__ otherwise?_

A grin overtook Jack's features, and he closed his eyes with a soft, breathy chuckle, pressing a feather-light kiss on the dragon warlord's nose. "I knew it..."

_**90. Or Is It?-**_

_"I love you, but you're a stubborn bastard, so I'm going home!"_ Jack exclaimed with a huff, storming away from Chase, only to be spun around and kissed fiercely in a fiery, dominant kind of way, and when it ended, scorching golden eyes practically spoke.

_**I'm sorry,**_ they said. _**I love you, too.**_

A grin overtook Jack's features, and he closed his eyes with a soft, breathy chuckle, pressing a feather-light kiss on the dragon warlord's nose. _"Ha, gotcha..."_

--

**A/N:**

_**Warrior- **_**No comment.**__

_**Orange- **_**Seriously, could I be within ten feet of an orange and not have to smell like it for two years? /./**__

_**Feather- **_**No comment.**__

_**Antelope- **_**No comment.**__

_**Faery- **_**This****is a reference to my one-shot, **_**A Midsummer Night's Affair,**_** in which Oberon is Chase, Puck is Jack, and Titania is Wuya, so that should explain that. /./**__

_**Fly Trap- **_**No comment.**__

_**Eel- **_**This****shows my love for the character of Xerxes from Aladdin the Series through making Jack love him also. XD**__

_**Grape- **_**This ****is a joke borrowed from one of my top favorite comedians, Demetri Martin, who I like because he's not as exposed as other comedians. *cough*DaneCook*cough***__

_**Reverse Psychology- **_**See **_**Or Is It? **_**below.**__

_**Or Is It?-**_**This and**_** Reverse Psychology**_** are the same scene, but the former is what **_**actually**_** happened, and the latter is the **_**subtext**_** of what happened in case you didn't catch that.**__

__**Hope you enjoyed it! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**91. Wrestler-**_

"You're so athletic, Chase," Jack praised. "You could be on the wrestling team, or like, a football player or something, and yet you stay after school everyday to tutor me in literature: it makes _no_ sense!"

"On the contrary, Jack," said the senior to his sophomore pupil, appreciatively eyeing the younger's body, "I'd _much_ rather look at you than a bunch of sweaty, naked men in the locker room."

Wickedly deciding to toy with the poor underclassman, he added in a flirty tone, "Although if _you'd_ like to get sweaty and naked for me, I'm sure I'd like _that_ even better..."

_**92. Bologna-**_

"Why?"

"Because Oscar Mayer has a way with b-o-l-o-g-n-a."

Chase groaned as Jack began laughing hysterically at his own joke, totally unrelated to the previous topic of conversation.

_**93. Eye-**_

Sometimes, Jack swore that the feeling of being watched, of golden eyes monitoring his every move, never left him.

_**94. Penguin-**_

"I'm sure you already know this, I mean, how could you not?"

Chase deeply wondered why he had seen fit to entertain a visit from Jack Spicer, but nonetheless kept silent, hoping the point would soon be gotten to.

"But it's a known fact that penguins will mate for life once they've found the right one for them."

The dragon briefly wondered what this had to do with anything, but soon found his answer as a fiery, passionate kiss from the goth genius proved to be skillful enough to...peak his interest, obviously not helped when the kiss was broken and a nearly _obscene_ look was thrown his way.

The boy's full lips just barely parted to whisper, "Be my penguin?"

_**95. Pink-**_

Chase always found himself completely captivated whenever even the faintest traces of pink flushed over snow-white cheeks.

_**96. Fever-**_

Chase gently stroked his beloved's sweat-dampened hair, ignoring the pang in his heart at the increasingly labored breathing in favor of propping the boy up against him and helping him to swallow some cool water, having to bite back a growl at the bright, sickly flush of his cheeks and the soft whimpers coming from his throat every now and then.

How he _loathed_ the frequency with which his poor Jack's body was wracked with fever!

_**97. Rain-**_

Oddly enough, it surprised Chase, if only to a mild extent, that on the occasion he saw Jack get caught in the rain, when he had expected eye-liner, white makeup, and bright red hair dye to be washed away, the only thing to run down his cheeks had been eye-liner.

_**98. Decibel-**_

Chase honestly didn't understand Jack's apparent need to listen to "River Below" by Billy Talent at least once daily at a soothing billion and five decibels.

_**99. Skull-**_

Sometimes, Chase wondered if there _was_, in fact, a brain in Jack's skull.

Other times, he wondered _how_ his skull could possibly contain it.

_**100. Glass-**_

All of Chase Young seemed to be made of unyielding stone, but in truth, his heart was made of glass.

He needed someone special, someone who could hold his fragile heart in their hands and not shatter it.

He needed his beloved Jack.

--

**A/N:**** Hmm...I should probably be more shocked than I am that I've reached 100 within the course of six days...but then again, these are very addicting and easy, so I guess I really shouldn't be. XD**

_**Wrestler-**_** High school Chack! :D**__

_**Bologna-**_** …don't ask. XD**

**_Eye- _****No comment.**

**_Penguin- _I _am_ aware that the concept I used in _Penguin_ has been done to death by everyone and their grandmother, but I couldn't think of anything else to write for it, so...whatever. /./**

**_Pink- _****No comment.**

**_Fever-_**** Poor Jack… D:**

**_Rain-_**** No comment.**

**_Decibel- _I had been planning to use a more metal-ish song, like something by Disturbed, Korn, or Slipknot (all bands I love), but then I realized I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a few more individuals aware of Jack Spicer's theme song; River Below by Billy Talent fits Jack to a 't' to the point that its frightening.**

**_Skull- _****I subscribe to the theory that Jack really _is_**** a genius, but has _a lot_**** of blond moments. XD**

**_Glass-_****No comment.**

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**101. Goblin-**_

Chase had known Jack was gay, he supposed, curled around the junior on the couch watching the teen's favorite movie, when he had watched the film with him back when they were both high-schoolers and Jack had expressed a great deal of interest in the Goblin King during the "Magic Dance" routine.

From there, it was only a matter of time until Chase could get Jack to focus on _him_ during David Bowie's sexiest scenes instead of King Jareth.

_**102. Shaman-**_

"No, Chase," Mozenrath corrected his partner as he worked diligently in his lab, Xerxes curled around his shoulders, asleep, "_Destane_ was a shaman; _I'm_ a necromancer."

"What exactly is the difference?"

The young sorcerer paused in his work. "You know, I don't really know."

_**103. Creature-**_

The bloody creature snarled at him, sharp, canine teeth bared in warning, but Chase was not swayed to back away, even at the sight of Wuya on the laboratory floor, partially eaten and barely recognizable, making it quite clear where the blood on the animal's snout had come from.

No, the warlord advanced on the abnormally large wolf, ignoring the empty barking and growling threats.

This beast wouldn't harm him.

When close enough, he knelt to it's level (something he certainly wouldn't have had to do if it were standing on it's hind legs, so large was it's size), reaching out a hand towards the animal.

The razor-sharp teeth made to snap at it, but Chase easily gripped the bloodied snout closed and gently ran his other hand over flawless white fur.

"You are a lycan, Spicer?" he inquired.

The large wolf suddenly yelped before whined dejectedly, yanking his head away from Chase's hands to slump to the ground and cover his red eyes with his paws.

In a gravelly, forced sort of sound, it spoke, _"You were the __**last**__ person I wanted to find out..."_

Chase noted that since his coloring was no different than in his human form that Jack must have been born into this, not changed.

"I do not think any worse of you because of this, Jack," he assured.

At the shocked (or at least as close to shocked as the canine form could manage) look, the warlord chuckled lightly.

"As if _I_ could truly look down on _you_ for having a bestial form?"

_**104. Galaxy-**_

"I have chosen you, Spicer," Chase purred, "because of all that you are, your personality, your intellect," here he paused, licking his lips as he examined the quivering human's form, "your _body_: every little bit of you is perfectly compatible with me."

The Earthling flinched as the alien's sharp, cold claw gently touched his pale cheek.

"If you say yes, you will be the Queen of all the Galaxies, _my_ Queen, Jack Spicer; and all you have to do is say yes..."

_**105. Alliance-**_

"Well," Prince Jack breathlessly began, lying totally naked next to the equally-as-naked foreigner with what must have been the body of a god, "what can I say? You've got yourself an alliance, King Chase."

_**106. Where's Waldo?-**_

Chase snarled angrily at what he deemed a complete waste of time. "How do they expect _anyone_ to find this useless waste of flesh, Waldo?!" he growled.

Jack, upon hearing his lover's distress, peeked over the man's shoulder, pointing out, "There, there, there, there, and there's his stupid dog that I hate with a vengeance," before walking off to do whatever he had been going off to do in the first place.

Jaw dropped at the ease with which the boy had found the fool, Chase vowed that if it was the last thing he did, he would _find Waldo_.

_**107. Lost-**_

Jack admitted to himself that he was lost, the dark, shadowy forest seeming to close in around him with every frantic beat of his heart.

Another, too, heard said beating, and nearly moaned aloud as the scent of the blood the boy's heart was pumping through his body reached his well-trained nose.

Oh, the thought of burying his fangs into that fine, white throat!

Chase decided that he just might _have_ to keep this one around...

"Hello, there, young one," he greeted in a charming purr. "You appear to be a bit lost..."

_**108. Found-**_

Chase cackled maniacally, blood coating his hands while Jack gaped open-mouthed at the dead body on the ground. "Chase," he blinked, horrified, "why did you kill Le Mime?!"

The warlord faced him with a proud grin. "It's not Le Mime, Jack," he informed. "I've found Waldo..."

Jack decided that if anyone could find the _actual_ Waldo, then it was Chase: the resemblance truly_ was_ so uncanny, that it was either that, or some family would be grieving their mime-relative fairly soon...or not.

Nobody likes mimes.

_**109. Embryo-**_

Jack's eyes were wide but unseeing at the unbelievable information his med-bot had just told him, his hand going unbidden to his stomach.

_"What?"_ he breathed.

"Yes, master," the machine informed, "my scans indicate the presence of a living embryo inside you: you are pregnant."

Jack made no sound, his mind going a mile a minute on what he was going to do.

How could this have possibly happened?

And even worse, how the _hell_ was he going to tell Chase about this?

_**110. Soul-**_

"I have no soul, Jack," Chase scoffed at the very notion.

"Psh, nonsense!" the goth genius insisted, "Of course you have a soul; granted it's gotta be blacker than sin by now, but you _must_ have one!"

--

**A/N: This is basically, "The Matt Chapter" because he A) gave me all of the words, and B) pretty much all of the actual prompts are something he's interested in.**

_**Goblin- **_**Hooray for the Labyrinth (and consequently, David Bowie in tight pants)! XD**__

_**Shaman- **_**This****is a reference to another of my stories, Shifting Sands, but in case you don't want to read it, or were going to read it and then saw the twelve chapters, and went, "Oh, no way.", Jack is Mozenrath when he gets older, and eventually, Chase becomes his advisor/lover, and though they don't do so much in the actual story, they make sex regularly.**__

_**Creature- **_**Werewolf prompt: Matt is obsessed with them things, he is. /./**__

_**Galaxy-**_** He also happens to be a fan of aliens! XD**__

_**Alliance-**_** I snuck this one in just 'cause I thought 'twas amusing. XD**__

_**Where's Waldo?- **_**I doubt it will surprise you, but: Matt's idea. /./**__

_**Lost- **_**Vampires, 'cause Matt got his favorite supernatural creature cameo'd, and I deserve mine to be as well! (P.S.-Real vampires don't sparkle.)**__

_**Found- **_**Continuation of **_**Where's Waldo?**_** XD**__

_**Embryo-**_** Mpreg; me likey in almost all cases, but especially when the author makes the attempt to explain it logically instead of just, "OMG, you're somehow pregnant! D:" The prompt in this one is too short for me to have done so, but if it were more of a full story-length, I would have tried to give a reason for it.**__

_**Soul- **_**No comment.**

**Either way, though, I hope you guys liked the chapter! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**111. Sewers-**_

Chase didn't know quite what had brought him to the sewers that day, but as he heard a slight splashing noise behind him, it no longer mattered.

"Who's there?" he demanded of the darkness. He heard nothing for a brief moment, but after the hesitant pause, a quiet sound, a dragging noise seemed to approach him.

"...I'm sorry to bother you," a voice spoke, soft and unsure, "but it's been _so_ long since I've been around anyone..."

The figure moved into view, and without entirely meaning to, Chase gaped at the creature.

It appeared to be a young boy, maybe fifteen, of a stark white complexion with hair to match, and red eyes that practically glowed in the dark. He was fairly thin, malnourished, even, and there were dark circles under his eyes from what Chase presumed to be lack of sleep, but the real shocker was from the boy's hips down.

Instead of a nude lower body, as he had been expecting from the bare torso, there was a long, thick serpentine tail, the scales of which were a pale white like his skin but were slightly iridescent under whatever faint traces of light down here they could catch.

Not wanting to give the wrong impression, the poor snake-boy already looking self-conscious of his tail, Chase gave a charming grin, greeting, "It's nice to meet you, then. I'm Chase. Have you been living in this place very long?"

The naga's eyes lit up, excited at being talked to, and he eagerly replied, "My name's Jack! I've lived here most of my life, I guess."

Chase inspected the creature, attractive despite poor physical health, and made a 'hm' noise. "Well, we'll have to do something about _that_, now won't we?"

_**112. Underling-**_

Chase Young was a well-respected king, envied by men, beloved by women. Yes, indeed, he was held in high esteem by everyone, revered and looked up to by all!

No one had any idea he'd been banging an underling of his by the name of Jack for years.

_**113. Oracle-**_

Chase ran his clawed and scaled hand through his lover's hair as another vision rendered the boy unconscious.

He had thought _himself_ unlucky growing up, cursed with reptilian hands and feet, not to mention super-human strength and a tail, but now he realized just how short a stick fate had seen fit to give his poor Jack: forced to be an oracle, to see the future from a young age and at the precious cost of his own health, which came bundled with frequent fainting spells and skull-cracking migraines.

Of course, remembering his _own_ brushes with near-heat stroke in the summer because of his cold blood and an almost uncontrollable hunger around small animals (anything in size from a hamster to a Pomeranian), Chase ultimately decided that being a mutant just plain sucked.

_**114. Swarm-**_

Jack yelped, frightened upon awakening from a nightmare and shivering as he remembered the scarab-esque insects that had swarmed all over him in his dream.

His heart-beat slowed and his breathing evened, however, when a strong arm pulled him back down to the bed and against a well-muscled chest, an annoyed grunt coming from the man the body belonged to, and Jack realized he had nothing to worry about.

Chase Young was at least twenty-times better bug-protection that Raid or Axe deodorant.

_**115. Tomb-**_

Jack's gasp echoed into the abandoned tomb as his lover bit deep into his throat, drawing blood into his mouth.

"Hey," he protested, shoving the vampire partially off of his stitched-together, though still mostly original body (he hadn't been able to find a good deal of his left arm and leg and so needed replacements), "go easy on that, I don't have much of it left."

Chase sighed, licking his lips of the heavenly taste. "A truth I regret to the ends of the Earth, my deceased. If you ever see your murderer again, point him out to me so that I may kill him for putting the treasure of your blood in such short supply."

The reanimated corpse gave a coy grin to his lover, tangling a hand in his dark hair only for it to pop off of the wrist and fall down onto the man's shoulder where it clung for dear life, as if severely not wanting to be on the dusty floor.

"Kill him twice for my hand," he requested. "it never _did_ go back on right once he took that chainsaw to it."

_**116. Hybrid-**_

Practically purring as the taste of lycanthrope blood touched his tongue, Chase acknowledged that he didn't know quite what this would do to his lover, the boy's faint struggling in his arms from uncertainty having faded in favor of a half-unconscious slump, but he knew one thing: vampires were immortal and werewolves weren't.

Unless he wanted to lose his Jack, he would have to make him a hybrid.

_**117. Bachelor Party-**_

When Raimundo had invited Chase and Jack to his bachelor party, he hadn't expected them to come, and _certainly_ hadn't expected them to ignore both the booze and the women in favor of each other.

Rolling his eyes as things started to get Mature for 18 and up over by the strip joint lounge on which the two males were enjoying themselves, Rai turned back to his topless lap-dance, internally scoffing, _"Queers..."_

_**118. Pantomime-**_

"When you learn the meaning of a term, it can be very disappointing."

Chase arched an elegant eyebrow at the out-of-the-blue statement. "In what way?" he wondered.

"Well," Jack explained, "my mom took me to meet a friend of hers when I was younger, and she told me that he 'pantomimed' for a living. So-"

"Remember what I told you about ending your stories one sentence earlier, Spicer?"

_**119. Intrusion-**_

Wuya winced as the image that had burned itself into her mind returned, and she severely wished she had listened to Chase when he told her that he had some important business to handle with Jack Spicer and that he wanted no intrusions.

_**120. Complexion-**_

"Jack, love, you have such a fair complexion," Chase tugged the boy under the tree and against his chest, "you should stay here, in the shade."

Yeah, that personality flipping Wu had caused Chase to lose the Showdown, and _hell_ yeah, the dragon would be pretty pissed at him for not protesting when he had walked away from said Showdown to make sure the monks didn't beat the snot out of Jack, then insisting upon taking him for an outing to a beautiful forest, yet untouched by human influence, _especially_ when all it would have taken to snap him out of the state was a particularly hard smack, but Chase wasn't likely to spoil him like this _ever_ again.

He still had a few hours before the Wu's effects wore off on their own and Jack would have to go back to the cold, rarely-expressed though still-there love he was used to, so he figured why not enjoy this while it lasted?

--

**A/N: So...yeah, a lot of vampire/Halloween ones lately, and I don't know why, so...yeah, whatever. **

**About **_**Swarm,**_** I mentioned Axe because Matt has actually documented a case of killing a whole ant colony by spraying them with Axe, and I thought that was funny, so I did it. XD And because I don't want to be sued or whatever, I don't own Raid **_**or**_** Axe deodorant, so there, big-wigs! XD**

**Alright, now, in **_**Bachelor Party**_**, anyone offended by the word 'queer' is kinda being stupid, especially if they complain to me about 'my hatred of homosexual people', because take a look at what I write: slash. Every single story I have posted here is slash, and I have not written one het pairing since joining Fanfiction. What does this tell you? Oh, right, of course, I **_**hate**_** gay people, I want them all to go away and get fixed to be normal or whatever; seriously, come on! FOCUS, PEOPLE!! The only reason I used the word 'queer' is because Rai just sort of seems like the kind of person who would be thinking that if two guys were making out at his sexy bacehlor party; this does not in any way reflect my feelings on homosexuals.**

**Now that all that bulls--t is out of the way, **_**Pantomime**_** is another bit taken from Demetri Martin, only he used the term 'cat person' instead of pantomime, as in "He's not a cat person, he's a cat **_**liker! **_**A cat person is like, 'Why won't Jim go in the pool? Oh, he's a cat person! Ok.' ". If you don't get the 'pantomime' thing in my version, I figured it could be thought of as a mime who does bits about pants. XD**

**So, yeah, that's about it, and hope you liked it, despite the fact that some of them are getting a bit long! :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**121. Mended-**_

Chase was offended, _hurt_, even, that Jack had been badly injured in a Showdown, and had hidden it out of _embarrassment_ at being injured.

Thinking on just how damned _lucky_ the boy was that the jagged gouge in his leg hadn't become infected before it had been found and treated properly, Chase decided that his young mate's leg wasn't the only thing in need of mending.

Apparently his self-esteem had suffered just one too many devastating blows, as well.

_**122. Window-**_

Whenever the king was called off to an important meeting in foreign territory or to fight in a battle, it appeared as if he took the prince's soul with him, the young man's eyes remaining dead and lifeless as they stared blankly through the window.

The second Chase returned, however, Jack's red eyes brightened with all the life and love they had been missing, and then it seemed that those solemn weeks had been more than worth it in the end.

_**123. Survival-**_

Jack whimpered through his tears, clinging helplessly to his idol for whatever support he could get, too lost in his guilt-ridden hysteria to hear Chase's furious growl.

The man's eyes had gone red in his rage as he glowered at the blood and gore-covered corpse, the source of his mate's distress.

Mothers were supposed to gladly give their lives for their children if necessary, or at least resign themselves to death if it meant their child could survive, _not_ make them believe that they were the worst kinds of cowards for "selling them out" in order for their lives to have been preserved.

Chase would have killed Jack's mother for imparting these things on her son as she died if she hadn't already been brutally murdered.

_**124. Attract-**_

Chase took a moment to think on all the vast differences between him and his mate, and he briefly wondered how they could _possibly_ be a couple.

The aforementioned creature walked by just then, however, giving him a _look_ before disappearing into the bedroom, and as the dragon eagerly followed his Jack, he remembered _exactly_ how they were a couple.

Opposites attract.

_**125. Molecular-**_

"Wanna combine elements?" Jack suggested coyly to his lover. "It'd be a great way to find our _molecular formula_..."

Chase groaned internally, seriously considering burning all of the goth's chemistry books, but externally shoving the youth to the bed and peeling off his trench coat.

If they started right away, there might be time for empirical formula as well...

_**126. Lady-**_

Chase scowled as he thought of the impending meeting he was on his way to at that very moment.

His father _insisted_ he get married and inherit the throne soon, and kept setting him up with stupid girls he was intended to marry, but 'for some reason', it never worked out.

Probably because he wasn't even interested in women to begin with.

The middle-aged man had supposedly picked this one out himself, meaning she was probably some upper-class lady, purebred and dainty in every little way.

Wonderful.

However, upon entering the room where the meeting was to take place, Chase almost gaped at the sight of a pale, red-eyed peasant boy who nearly instantly struck his fancy.

Perhaps his father wasn't as clueless as he had thought...

_**127. Declaration-**_

"Why should I stay?!" Jack demanded. "What reason is there for me not to just walk away from this whole Xiaolin-Heylin mess and never see you or those loser-monks ever again?!"

"Because I love you!" Chase declared vehemently, no longer caring for his pride if it meant he could keep the young man from leaving.

Jack's demeanor, however, instantly brightened, going from fury to happiness in the space of a second, and he practically leapt onto the dragon, curling his arms around his neck as he teasingly questioned, "Now see? That wasn't so hard to admit, now was it?"

_**128. Laughs-**_

Chase knew his mate's laugh well, a sweet and chiming sound of mirth, punctuated every now and then by a snort if the subject was particularly funny.

Jack didn't have the opportunity to hear his beloved's laugh often, but he had committed the deep, soft chuckle to memory anyways.

_**129. Prime-**_

"Psh, the hell with Optimus Prime," Jack snorted, "I'll take Starscream _any_ day! Ooh, or maybe Megatron, he's pretty cool...no, Unicron!"

Chase was inclined to believe there to be truth in the theory that the things children watched when they were young influenced them later in life if Spicer was being truthful when he said he had grown up watching this cartoon.

_**130. Actors-**_

As the monks left, not interested in watching Chase beat the tar out of Jack for being annoying, the goth genius thought to himself while Chase lost his extreme composure and pounced on him, taking his lips the second the door slammed shut, that they were _damn_ good actors.

--

**A/N: Not much to say except: I have Chemistry on the brain even though I fairly much hate it, I'm insane so I made a Transformers reference, and I like **_**Actors **_**very much for some inexplicable reason.**

**Also, I have, like, another chapter and a half written, but those probably won't be up until tomorrow or sometime over the weekend, because I've been kinda busy with school and junk lately. o.o**

**Hope you liked this, though, and be on the lookout for 14 and 15 soon! .. :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**131. Swoon-**_

Rolling his eyes at the limp form he held partially upright by the waist, Chase dubbed it an 'only Jack' moment.

Who else would _actually_ swoon at the sight of their lover?

_**132. Robust-**_

Jack could only think of one word to describe the taste of his lover, like a dark, black storm of crashing lighting, rumbling thunder, and torrential rain, and that word was 'robust'.

_**133. Medallion-**_

Chase's sharp eyes immediately locked onto the flash of gold around the neck of the boy in the market place.

When he was younger, he had decided upon a future spouse, designating the small infant as such with an intricate medallion, the very same one he now saw dangling from this lovely young man's pale white throat.

Well...it seemed as if he'd made the right choice, and now all that was left was to claim his bride.

_**134. Electrolysis-**_

"Agh!" Jack screamed in frustration, sorely tempted to tear his hair out, "How the hell am I supposed to write a 6-page thesis on electrolysis in one night?!"

Chase decided that he didn't need to bother his mate just then, especially at the enraged cry of, "Fuckin' Mr. Adarah!"

_**135. Strawberry-**_

The Hissi smiled showing off the barest hint of his sharp fangs as his mate eagerly accepted the tidbit of food, the small red strawberry given to him, and he curled his long, shadowy body around the fluffy, white creature and relaxed completely at the warmth that surged through him as he did so.

Sometimes, Chase thought, draping his wings over his Jack, it paid to have a warm-blooded Xweetok as a mate.

_**136. Banana-**_

Jack desperately wished he could enjoy his beloved fruit without turning his beloved on.

_**137. Sharpie-**_

Chase couldn't help but gag slightly at the scent that assailed his sensitive nose. "How can you stand those _vile_ fumes?" he demanded.

"Sharpie tolerance," Jack answered immediately, his already multi-colored, ink-stained hands not so much as pausing in their work. "You build one up when you take an art class for an extended period of time."

"As in the the six-year class your mother made you take?" the warlord inquired.

The goth scowled minutely. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me of my six years in hell," he snorted. "The woman that taught the class was battier than a fruitcake."

The man frowned in confusion. "Wh-"

"I know what I said, and I meant it, dammit!" Jack exclaimed. "She was fucking crazy!"

_**138. Black-**_

People have a tendency not to like themselves, and often do whatever they can to give an opposite impression without realizing it.

Jack Spicer was mostly a good person, and so covered himself in as much black as he could, whether it be clothing or eye-liner.

Chase Young's soul was black as soot, but he always tried to maintain his sense of honor to make up for it.

All of this was subconscious, of course, but it didn't change the fact that together, they were perhaps the only ones who could reach a balance.

_**139. Sloth-**_

Sloth was supposedly one of the seven deadly sins of the Christian religion, one said to send the committer straight to Hell if not repented.

Curled up against Chase though, laziness so completely induced by the warmth and comfort of the bed, Jack decided he might as well go to Hell.

_**140. Contact-**_

Jack would die for one touch, a single tidbit of contact from Chase Young.

--

**A/N: Um...what do I have to say about this one?**

**First, **_**Electrolysis**_** is based off of my actual Chemistry teacher, and the teacher in the fictional version has his name spelled backwards. XD Seriously, though, I hate Mr. Harada, he's, like, **_**pure**_** evil...well, maybe not as evil as my Latin teacher from 8th grade, which brings me to my next point.**

**The expression I used in **_**Sharpie**_**, "battier than a fruitcake" is one that I've actually used about my old Latin teacher, because she actually **_**was**_** battier than a fruitcake, if anyone could have managed it. XD**

**Also, yes, **_**Strawberry**_** is in fact a Neopets reference; I couldn't help myself. XD After much consideration, I saw fit to make Chase a Hissi and Jack a Xweetok. I briefly considered Chase to be an Eyrie, however, but then...I don't know, Hissi seemed to fit him marginally better; Jack, though, was always a Xweetok in my head for some inexplicable reason.**

**Now, I'm still only about 1/2 way through the next chapter, and my drive to write has died knowing that I have a long weekend, so...I'm thinking it'll be finished and posted by either late Sunday or sometime on Monday.**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter, thanks for reading! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**141. Igloo-**_

"If this were an igloo," Jack began, cuddled up against his lover, "we would have to Eskimo kiss."

"And this _isn't_ an igloo, Jack," Chase pointed out, but he nevertheless humored the boy, nuzzling his nose affectionately against his.

_**142. Mandrake-**_

"A mandrake?" Jack inquired. "Isn't that the thing that they pulled out of the pots in Harry Potter and it started screaming like a bastard?"

Chase groaned aloud, internally marveling that Jack could even _function_ as a young adult with such childish thoughts.

_**143. Elaborate-**_

Jack didn't know why Chase always made such elaborate arrangements for their outings (he would get scowled at it he used the word 'date').

So long as the elder male saw fit to spend time with him, he was happy.

_**144. Robert E. Lee-**_

"Hey, Chase? Can I borrow the Sands of Time?" Jack asked politely.

Immediately, the warlord concluded, "You have a paper to write, and you want to alter history so that you don't have to write it."

"Aw, come on, like _anyone_ will miss Robert E. Lee?!" the goth snapped.

_**145. Foam-**_

The seafoam of the early morning lapped gently at the Great White's tail, nudging him gently out of sleep and into consciousness.

His onyx eyes fell upon the still-sleeping creature he held in his arms, and a smile, one of the first that wasn't a smirk or malicious in some way, crossed his face.

The guppy's, _Jack's_ tail had finally healed, and he had afterwards _insisted_ he repay him by becoming the predator's mate, their bond consolidated only last night.

Chase...had never really known happiness before this...he decided it was nice.

_**146. Fertilizer-**_

"_Love is like the fertilizer of the relationship garden, the basic foundation for any good_-what the hell is this crap?" Jack scoffed, staring in disgusted disbelief at the book in his hands until it was abruptly knocked out of his grip, and he himself pushed to the bed and straddled by the waist.

"We _don't_ have relationship issues, Spicer," the warlord atop him promised. "Even if we did, going by _that_ book would separate us all the faster."

Meeting the lusting/loving golden eyes, Jack chuckled lightly, leaning up for a kiss. "Yeah, you're right..."

_**147. Bubbles-**_

Whenever Jack saw Chase, he got a nervous, bubbly feeling in his stomach, like he was about to take a test he _knew_ he wasn't ready for, and the bubbles only got worse when the man kissed him out of the blue one day.

_**148. Atomic-**_

"You intend to build an atomic bomb?" Chase demanded.

"Yeah," Jack nodded, "someday. Not necessarily to _use_ it the first chance I get, but, you know, more to see if I _could_. Besides that, a couple atomic bombs would be pretty good leverage for world domination, you know."

"Hm," Chase crossed his arms thoughtfully, "but where would you get the schematics?"

"Wikipedia's probably got _something_ on it," the albino shrugged. "Wikipedia is info-god."

_**149. Lack-**_

It always seemed as if Chase Young got hung up on what Jack Spicer lacked, namely competence.

In truth, he was hung up on what he himself lacked: Jack Spicer.

_**150. Pocket-**_

Chase raised an eyebrow as Jack procured the Monkey Staff at the mere mention of the Wu.

He knew for a fact that the goth didn't have any pockets on those jeans of his, and _certainly_ not one big enough in his trench coat, so where on Earth had he...?

Then again, nevermind: this was probably one of those things he didn't want to know about.

--

**A/N: Um...yeah, **_**super**_** late chapter, but it's here! .. :D**

**I'll try to keep a better track record from now on, but I've been busy lately and haven't had time to update. Hopefully, that will change, for both your sakes and mine. XD**

**Hope this one was worth the wait!**

**:D**


	16. Chapter 16

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**151. Phase-**_

Jack squealed like a fangirl, hugging his _Petshop of Horrors_ manga close to his chest.

"Count D is _so_ awesome," he cooed. "I love him!"

Chase Young huffed silently in annoyance from the shadows of the goth's room, crossing his arms as he attempted to soothe his temper.

This was just a phase, he told himself. Jack would soon realize the 'awesome' Chinese male he loved wore armor instead of a cheongsam and was decidedly more masculine than his _precious_ Count D.

_**152. Addition-**_

Many argued that putting Chase and Jack together was like adding water to acid, but as far as they cared, let the explosion come.

_**153. Geisha-**_

Chase couldn't help but think of Jack as a geisha sometimes, particularly due to his whiter-than-white skin and his shy, quiet behavior when embarrassed, but the illusion was often shattered with a sweet, loving gaze of red eyes and the tender query, "What are you thinking about?" and then Chase decided he'd much rather have his Jack than a geisha any day.

_**154. Nail Polish-**_

Upon hearing Jack's shrill scream, Chase dropped what he was doing to find out what was wrong.

Seeing the goth staring dejectedly at his black nails, whining, "My nail polish chipped...I _hate_ that!", however, Chase promptly smacked his lover upside the head and stormed out of the room, grumbling something that sounded a lot like, "Foolish little _girl_..."

_**155. Piñata-**_

"Allow me to get this straight: You own an Xbox 360, a game system most your age would _kill_ for."

Jack nodded, confirming this as truth.

"And you also own several games for it, like Viva Piñata."

Another nod.

"And yet you avoid it like the plague for no reason whatsoever?"

"But the stupid Fudgehogs keep eating my frickin' Whirlms," Jack whined, "I don't want to deal with, like, three tragic, pointless deaths a day if the damn, fugly things won't even settle in the village!"

Chase sighed, exasperated; this _had_ to be unhealthy.

_**156. Thief-**_

"Spicer, I don't know how, but it seems you've managed to work up the unmitigated gall to steal from me. So, you little thief, if you value your life, you will return my Eye-Spy Orb at once of your own accord, lest you want to be unable to breathe of your own volition."

Jack smiled adoringly up at Chase before standing on his tip-toes to press a gentle kiss on the man's lips while simultaneously handing over said object, its veiny stalk wrapped around it for easy carrying.

At Chase's immediate and speechless disappearance afterwards, the goth grinned sharply.

The seed of doubt had been planted, and it was only a matter of time before the vines of the plant that grew from it would twine around that black heart and bring Chase right back to Jack Spicer, where he belonged.

_**157. Samurai-**_

Oftentimes, Jack could clearly picture his lover as a powerful samurai, able to cut down any opponent in his way, and he himself as...what were cheerleaders called in ancient Japan, again?

_**158. Desert-**_

Jack Spicer's life often felt like a desert, one despising of human kind and bent on ridding itself of his presence by any means necessary, sending deadly threat after deadly threat his way, and more often than not, it seemed _impossible_ that he could survive much longer.

Little did he know, Chase Young was soon to become an oasis in disguise.

_**159. Stone-**_

Chase's force of will was hard and unyielding as stone, and he could never be persuaded to do something he didn't want to do.

This is something the man assured his younger lover every time he became insecure of their relationship.

_**160. Poison-**_

Jack moaned quietly as his body fell limp, his thoughts going blank as the mild poison worked its way through his veins, quickly sending him into a black unconsciousness.

Chase caught the slender form as it fell, holding it tightly against his chest. If the boy would not cooperate, his hand would have to be forced.

He _would_ be living with Chase from now on, whether he wanted it or not.

--

**A/N: Okay, first, I love Count D; he's five seconds from being gay at all times, but I totally love him anyways.**

**Second, I forgot for a long while which was bad, adding acid to water or water to acid, but then I remembered a rhyme my science teacher taught my class in 8th grade: "Do what you ougther, add acid to water." and the problem was solved. XD**

**Third, **_**Piñata**_** is totally me in every way, shape, and form. I'm so weird that I refuse to play my own video game, Viva Piñata because of the frickin' roaming Fudgehogs that keep eating all my cute, wittle Whirlms who don't deserve such cruel, pointless demises. I am officially insane, please call the men in the white coats to take me away as I cannot dial the phone in a straight-jacket. XD**

**And that's pretty much all I have to say about this chapter, so...yeah...**

**Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**161. Lettuce-**_

"Why don't dogs eat lettuce?"

Chase blinked at the question. "Pardon?"

"Dogs," Jack clarified, "I've had, like, three of them, and they all hated lettuce. Why?"

The warlord sighed, resting his hand in his lover's red hair. "I honestly don't know," he admitted. "Does this answer please you, Spicer?"

Jack shrugged. "Eh, I guess. It's still weird to think the almighty Chase Young doesn't know something, though," he teased lightly.

_**162. Tylenol-**_

Jack groaned, dragging himself out of bed in order to tightly close the shades against the morning light, even as his pounding headache protested his every movement.

"You _reek_ of alcohol," he heard a familiar voice scoff suddenly. "Since when do you behave like a common _drunkard_?"

The youth hissed, avoiding his idol's eyes. "Since when do _you_ talk so _loud_?!" he shot back. "Gawd..."

Chase scowled, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "That's what you get when you drink so heavily," he informed, "a massive hangover."

Jack growled, glaring at the man as he retorted, "Yeah, well, maybe if you didn't _hate_ me so damn much, I wouldn't _want_ to get smashed out of my fucking mind!"

The goth gasped upon realizing what he'd said, avoiding eye contact and doing his best (though not subtly) to avoid the subject as he walked towards the bathroom, specifically the medicine cabinet.

"I need Tylenol or something..."

He was stopped, however, by a tight grip on his upper arm, and he was soon forced to meet a blazing golden stare.

"I don't think that's the only thing you need," Chase rumbled at him.

Jack was soon unable to make a comeback, the far more intoxicating taste of his long-time crush easily overpowering the lingering bourbon flavor in his mouth.

_**163. Goo-**_

Jack made a 'yuck' noise, wiping the goo-like substance off of his arm and doing his best to move away, efforts impeded by the tail coiled around his legs and the scaly, muscled bicep around his waist.

If Chase wanted to sleep with him while in lizard form so badly, the _least_ he could do was not get dragon-spit all over him when he drooled!

_**164. Telekinesis-**_

Chase grunted as he found himself slammed up against a wall by an invisible force, only to fall to the floor on one knee as the cause of the invisible force gasped, horrified at what he'd done, before dashing to the elder male's side in concern.

"Oh, God, Chase, I'm _so_ sorry!" Jack exclaimed. "I...I just don't know how to control this yet...I'm sorry..." The last part was practically squeaked, extremely timid.

"It's alright," the warlord assured, gently laying a hand on the boy's head. "Telekinesis is..._difficult_. It will take time to master." Even as Jack opened his mouth to protest, he added, "Time that I assure you, you will have, time that I will dedicate to aiding you in this."

Red eyes lit up happily, and even though a light bulb popped as a result, sending shards of glass and sparks clattering onto the floor, Chase knew he had made the right choice.

_**165. Evil-**_

Jack Spicer, Chase knew, was _not_ true evil.

Though his bots had the ability, he had never allowed them to vaporize the monks. Though he'd had many an opportunity, he'd never robbed so much as a _convenience store_, and despite his talk, he couldn't even crush a _spider_ without feeling guilt.

No, Jack was _not_ true evil, but as the albino watched him, a certain excited light in his red eyes as the man slowly broke bone after bone in young Tohomiko's body for some minor offense he couldn't quite recall, Chase decided that Spicer had hope yet.

_**166. Myth-**_

Thinking on fairy tale structure, in which the prince was intended to slay the evil dragon to rescue the princess and win her heart, and then in contrast to his _own_ life, where the prince had never shown up and he played the part of a princess who made frequent trips to the dragon's cave as something of a favored concubine, Jack decided that fairy tales really were just that: fantastical myths.

_**167. Hands-**_

Jack had always liked Chase's hands, their strength and power in all things, but he especially admired them for their sudden grace and gentleness when being used on his body.

_**168. Speaker-**_

When Jack was in a snit with his lover, his foolproof strategy for avoiding him was to remain within a good radius of his speakers as they blasted some melodramatic song like, "Excuse Me While I Kill Myself" by Sentenced or "Let It Die" by Three Days Grace, at a volume _far_ too intense for the man's sensitive hearing.

The only problem with said foolproof strategy was that with his Jack-bots strategically destroyed to sever his food-supply, he'd have to come out of his room sometime, at which moment he'd be apprehended and forced to make nice.

After about four separate incidents of this, Chase wondered why he didn't simply destroy the _speakers_ instead of the bots.

_**169. Lazy Susan-**_

"Why did they start calling 'dumbwaiters' 'lazy Susans'?"

Chase _had_ been half-asleep, but at the nonsensical utterance to his left, he unwillingly awoke, focusing one, bleary golden eye on the albino youth beside him. "Mmh?" he elegantly inquired.

"Yeah, 'cause dumbwaiter makes sense, because it's like a waiter, but it's inanimate, hence 'dumb'," Jack concluded. "I totally get that, but lazy Susan? Who the hell is Susan? It doesn't make any sense."

The goth squeaked as a strong arm pulled him close and the strong body attached to it lay practically on top of him.

"Neither does holding a heated discussion about nonsense at three in the morning when you _could_ be sleeping," Chase retorted.

And then the topic was most definitely dropped.

_**170. Dalai Lama-**_

"You don't believe in reincarnation?!" Jack gasped in something akin to horror at the conclusion. "But what about the Dalai Lama? All of his lives, the evidence found in memories, is it not possible, nay, _probable_ that there's some merit to the theory?"

People, images flashed through Chase's mind, all at once, it seemed: an English knight's young vassal, a French pirate captain's cabin boy, an underaged, soot-covered factory-worker of early industrial American, even a drafted soldier in the Vietnam war; all with the same face, the same white skin and bright red eyes, all taken from him before their time, and each with the same name, Jack (or Jacques, as it had been in his French life).

The current would be the albino's last incarnation, however, as the dragon knew, for he had finally been able to force the boy's hand, get his consent to weave his Heylin magic through the goth's lifeforce and freeze any decay in its tracks.

His Jack was untouchable by death, now.

Briefly, Chase considered informing the younger that he did, in fact, believe in reincarnation, had experienced it many times, and then revealing said experiences with the youth's _own_ past lives, but quickly thought better of it.

Jack was decidedly not ready for such information, and would only be told when he was.

"I have the right to reserve judgment on the issue, Jack-rabbit," the pet name used purposely to distract the boy from the subject at hand, "it is enough that I even indulge you in these discussions, is it not?"

Jack smiled, and those red eyes from years past appeared in his head for a fraction of a second, before the warlord returned to the current pair, their brightness augmented by the kohl lining them expressively and creatively.

"Yeah, you're right," Chase's favorite incarnation to date spoke, "it's _more_ than enough."

--

**A/N: Not much to say except this: two dogs to date, both hated/hate lettuce, and will not eat it unless covered in something else, like excessive salad dressing or meat juice.**

**Otherwise, hope you liked this chapter! .. :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**171. Rock-**_

"Well done, young monk, a bit more training and you will be-" the Heylin master stopped as a burst of mild pain abruptly echoed in his head, and he turned to find the source, one Jack Spicer standing a yard-and-a-half away, a dark scowl on his face and another rock threateningly poised in his palm.

"I couldn't find a brick, but I warned you, dammit!"

_**172. Pebble-**_

Jack whistled, impressed, as the pebble he had kicked off the side of Chase's mountain had yet to make so much as a 'clunk' after seven full minutes.

Exactly how far did it have to fall?

_**173. Boulder-**_

They said everybody needed a rock, something stable in their life that they could fall back on if worse came to worst.

Unlike Jack, most people didn't have a boulder like Chase Young.

_**174. Illinois-**_

"Illinois?" Jack gasped, excited, "There's a Six Flags there, _and_ a Medieval Times! Ooh, canwegocanwegocanwegocanwePLEASEgo?!"

Chase smiled, surprisingly good-naturedly, as he acquiesced, "Yes, we can go, but you had better be on your best behavior. I'd rather not have to be embarrassed to be seen with you in public."

The albino teenager 'squee'-ed quietly, hugging his lover tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" then promptly kissing the man full on the lips in gratitude.

_**175. Boston-**_

"What Shen Gong Wu are we here for, Chase?" Jack queried, casually inspecting their surroundings.

"It's called Anubis's Collar," Chase informed his lover, "named after the Egyptian God of embalming. It is said to give the wearer the ability to commune with the dead."

Red eyes blinked for a moment, baffled. "Well, then, what the _hell's_ it doing in Boston, Massachusetts?!"

_**176. Orlando-**_

"I must have been to Orlando, Florida, like, six times by now," Jack mused.

Chase raised an eyebrow, curious. "Relatives there?" he inquired.

"No," the goth answered, grinning, "Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure: The Mummy pwns."

_**177. Reaper-**_

Jack moaned quietly, eyelids gently fluttering open and focusing hazily on the man who knelt beside him.

"Nnh...Chase?" he croaked in question.

The warlord's mind, frazzled as it was from tending to the worrisome wound to the albino's abdomen, could only produce the thought, _"Take __**that**__, reaper."_

_**178. Tomato-**_

"Eew, I am _not_ eating _that_!"

Chase sighed, sensing oncoming stupidity, but asked anyways, "And just what is wrong with tomatoes?"

"Well, they look perfectly fine on the outside," Jack conceded, "but _inside_," he gagged at the thought, "they just don't look finished, like they're in some kind of," the albino turned visibly green, "_larval_ stage, or something."

_**179. Ectoplasm-**_

Inspecting the pinkish slime on the floor with scientific curiosity, Jack announced, "This looks to be ectoplasm, a physical manifestation of the remnants belonging to a spiritual presence."

Eyebrow raised, Chase asked, "And what exactly would that mean?"

The goth stood, casually brushing his hands on his dark jeans as he answered, "Well, either my house is haunted, or Wuya came on my floor."

_**180. Lightning-**_

The black sky overhead rumbled threateningly, lightning cleaving the darkness in two for a brief moment as rain poured from the heavens, relentless.

A gloved hand rested on a soaking wet, quivering shoulder, and red eyes outlined with running kohl met a stern golden gaze in mild surprise.

A deafening crash of thunder sounded, a blinding flash of light, and there was then emptiness where there had previously been two beings in the middle of the raging storm.

--

**A/N: Ok, rapid fire explanations: **_**Rock**_** is a reference to **_**Bricks, **_**Medieval Times and Six Flags are super-sexy-awesome-fun, Anubis equals awesome also, but his collar should be in Egypt instead of Boston, I love The Mummy ride like crazy and must have been on it at least 30-40 times, and George Carlin is the best comedian in the history of ever if just for his tomato joke, not even mentioning the other supremely clever jokes he has.**

**Whew, and I think that's everything, so...yeah. :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**181. Dink-**_

"Psh, what a dink!" Jack laughed as one of his lover's warriors ran head-first into a wall, strung out on catnip.

Chase groaned, mildly embarrassed, and hoped the albino wouldn't ever see fit to drug any of his cats again--a foolish thing to hope, knowing Spicer.

_**182. Fandango-**_

"Aw, come on, Chase, let's go see a movie! I'll even go on Fandango and get tickets!"

Seeing his lover entirely unswayed, he adopted 'the look', big tear-shining eyes, quivering lip, and _the_ most pleading tone he could manage.

_"Please?"_

Chase stood with a scoff, demanding, "Did you really think you could persuade me by begging so pathetically?"

Jack didn't move a muscle, his wide, watery eyes unblinking as a small whimper escaped his throat.

The warlord turned away, sighing, "When do you wish to leave?"

_**183. Lollapalooza!-**_

"And why should I allow you to go to this...convention of yours?"

"Convention?!" Jack gasped, horrified, "It is _not_ a convention! It's a gathering of the greatest scientific minds of my generation! The coming-together of young intellects everywhere! A veritable lollapalooza of all things tech!"

"...So it's a nerd convention."

"No!" Jack protested, "Geeks and dorks, too; we don't discriminate."

_**184. Goggles-**_

Jack gasped lightly through his heated panting as his lover removed his signature goggles, tossing them carelessly aside.

"Hey," he pleaded, "be careful with those; I don't want to have to make another pair!"

Chase paused in his ministrations, looking up to meet the albino's eyes with an expression that said he didn't _really_ care for any words at the moment, but nonetheless asked, "You made them?"

A proud grin as the smug answer came, "Hand-crafted with love."

Chase decided then to show his lover just what else hands could do with love, thusly ending the conversation.

_**185. Musicality-**_

"Aw, no way, Chase; you've never played music before? Not even singing?"

The warlord answered with a blunt, "No," turning uninterestedly back to the ancient tome he was thumbing through.

"Come on, baby, where's your musicality?"

There was a dead silence for a moment.

"..._Never_ say something so foolish in my presence again..._ever_."

_**186. Mojo Jojo-**_

"Yeah," Jack admitted, "Mojo Jojo was my hero before I started getting interested in the more serious evil circles, namely Mozenrath and then you; even though his plans never worked, and the way he talked got annoying after awhile, he was still pretty cool sometimes."

Chase was silent for awhile and said nothing, causing Jack to become a bit worried.

"Are you upset that you were my third choice?" he wondered. "Because I never liked either of them the way I like you." Sidling up to the larger man, cuddling against him, Jack assured, "You're the _only_ villain for me, Chase."

"Why were you watching 'Powerpuff Girls'?" the warlord asked at last.

_**187. Doomsday-**_

Volcanic eruptions consumed all in fire, the Earth quaking tumultuously as tornadoes and floods plagued the populace.

People ran in blind terror, brother forsaking brother, lover turning against lover, even mother abandoning child in the pursuit of survival.

Chaos had consumed the planet in doomsday, and all the while, Chase Young watched in amusement, Jack Spicer by his side.

They were laughing.

_**188. Crank-**_

"Well," Jack huffed, crossing his arms, "if you're going to be such a crank, then I guess I'll just have to find a _new_ boyfriend."

Before he had even fully finished his sentence, Chase had him up against the wall, apologizing in a way that would make even the most 'well-traveled' of porn stars blush.

_**189. Titanic-**_

Jack sniffled, hitched sobs escaping his throat as eyeliner mixed with tears and streamed down to stain his cheeks.

Chase gave the boy a mildly disgusted look, stating, "You are _such_ a woman."

The albino tossed the tissue box on his lap at his lover's head, defending, "Shut up, it's sad!"

_**190. Free Willy-**_

"No," Chase stated bluntly at the DVD in his lover's pale, white hand.

"Aw, why not? 'Free Willy' is a classic!"

"So is 'To Kill A Mockingbird', but you're not begging me to watch that, are you?"

"...well...that's 'cause it's boring..."

Chase smirked, "As is 'Free Willy' to me; debate ended."

--

**A/N: I don't know if there's anything I need to say about this chapter...**_**Titanic**_** has a special place in my heart, as does **_**Lollapalooza!**_**, but...there's...not...really...anything else to say..o.o**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter(holycrapbythetimechapter20isupthere'llbe200ofthesethings)! **

**:D**


	20. Chapter 20

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**191. Chlorine-**_

"Why is it that you so despise Omi, my rabbit?" the warlord inquired of his lover.

Jack harrumphed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I guess it's not really _him_," he admitted, "so much as the fact that I associate him with water; I've never been a fan of water, not since I discovered the effects of chlorine in pool water."

Intrigued, Chase asked, "And why is that?"

"My eyes are ugly enough; the _last_ thing I need is chlorine to make them uglier."

The warrior had him by the chin before he really knew what was happening, forcing him to meet the elder's gaze.

"I _like_ your eyes, Jack."

_**192. Cum-**_

"Now, Jack," Chase instructed sternly, "if this is to work, I will need you to come to the Showdow exactly...what are you snickering about?" his tone deadpanned, just _knowing_ it would be something stupid.

Through his hysterical giggles, the albino managed to get out, "Yuh-you s-said 'cum'!"

Chase facepalmed: he _really_ should have known better.

_**193. Thick-**_

"How am I supposed to suck on this? There's no way! It's too thick!"

"Don't be such a weakling, just do it."

"But what if I get some on me? It's all sticky, and if it gets on my clothes, it'll _never_ come out!"

Chase sighed in annoyance. "Stop being such a princess and drink your milkshake, Spicer."

_**194. Quip-Blarni-Quando-Floo-**_

Chase stared blankly at his young lover, trying to decide just where along the way the boy had misplaced his mind.

Jack, however, raised his hands in a harmless gesture, defending, "You _said_ to answer in my own words; those are my own words"

_**195. Polka Dot-**_

"Why is it that polka dots and polka music have almost nothing to do with each other, and yet share the same name?"

Chase tried very hard not to tear the pillow in half; his mate was getting insatiable with these nonsensical questions of his, lately. "Humans are an inexplicable race, Spicer," he settled with, "especially _you_. Sleep."

_**196. M.I.A.-**_

It had taken the higher-ups' witness of him losing an arm and an eye in an explosion to realize that he wasn't "soldier material", at which time Jack was appointed general of a technological military base (finally).

The young man had long ago realized, namely through the pain-staking construction of robotic replacements for his lost body parts during which he had received _no_ help despite the fact that he only had one other arm and eye with which to do this, that the higher-ups were pretty dumb.

Therefore, the albino was none too surprised to see his old comrade, Chase Young brought into his base, both legs severely damaged by a laser rifle, bleeding profusely and unconscious, after six years of being told his status was 'missing in action' when he had _obviously_ been fighting for their stupid cause the whole time.

Shooing away the panicked and inexperienced nurses, Jack rolled up his sleeves with a nostalgic sigh, prepping himself for what could escalate into surgery if the damage was too bad.

If he counted the bomb thing back in the old days, this would be the second thing Chase owed him for.

_**197. Bifocals-**_

Jack found himself gaping unabashedly at his lover. "..._Seriously_?"

For a fraction of a second, he could have sworn to seeing a blush on the warlord's face, but it left as quickly as it came.

"My eyesight wasn't very good when I was younger," Chase admitted. "I had to wear glasses until I was fourteen."

"..."

Jack smiled broadly, tackling the elder male in a hug. "Aw, that's _so_ cute!"

_**198. Advisory-**_

"But you give me advice all the time," Jack argued, "and the most I've ever gotten from my _actual_ dad was, 'Don't knock some girl up and don't screw men' and you know personally that only _half_ of that got through to me! You're, like, my advisory father!"

"I would rather not think of you as my son, Jack," Chase answered, tugging the youth into his lap, "because I find incest of that kind manipulative and despicable, and I would hate to lose such a wonderful lover to my own blood."

_**199. Moccasins-**_

Jack could not believe how unlucky he was.

He had been unfortunate enough to have been included in the crew hired by his ex-lover for a six-year pleasure cruise, and _then_ the harlot had gone crazy at the sight of him, shoving him over the side of the ship in the middle of nowhere!

He had been unconscious for a long while in the water (and was lucky for a change in that he hadn't drowned), but his mind now hazed back into the land of the living.

As it was, though, his body complained loudly of a 'drowned rat' feeling and refused to move, but at the very least, he was on dry land, probably a beach of some sort.

A sound reached his tired ears, suddenly, one that he didn't recognize, but would soon come to know as that of moccasins on sand. He felt a hand on his chest, checking for the steady rise and fall of breathing before moving to unbutton his long-sleeved shirt.

Okay, Jack decided, there was 'good Samaritan' and 'disturbing stranger', and whoever this was was pushing the line between the two.

His red eyes snapped open, his arms coming to his chest to try to weakly push the hand away.

That is, of course, until he actually saw who the hand belonged to: a man, maybe five or six years his elder, and though there was still traces of salt water in his eyes, the male looked to be nothing but solid, tanned muscle, wild, black hair, and sharp golden eyes.

At Jack's weak struggles, he chastised, _"Channômuk. Nia nanawaldôzik gia."_

The albino was unable to understand him, knowing nothing in the ways of language but his native tongue of English. Still, he was almost positive that this was a language yet to be discovered by any of the European nations.

Where exactly had he ended up?

The question faded from his mind along with any sense of care, even as the hand of the exotic man began undoing his breeches, having finished with the shirt, and the boots and socks already taken by the sea _long_ ago, and Jack decided that this man could do what he wanted with him.

For now, he was in desperate need of sleep.

_**200. Teepee-**_

Jack sighed contentedly, snuggling further under the furs that kept him warm and felt grateful for the sturdy teepee that sheltered him from the stormy weather.

A _lot_ had happened in the three years since he had washed up here: he had become something of a wife to the man that had saved his life, fallen in love, and learned the language and culture of the kind Abenaki people who had accepted him as one of their own.

Feeling his 'sanoba' or 'husband' snuggle up beside him, Jack turned to face his beloved (who had taken to being called 'Chase') and he raised his hands to the intricate tribal paint on his face that marked him as chief.

As the gorgeous native smiled at him, nuzzling his cheek affectionately, Jack decided that being told, "I love you" in a soft, female voice before being shoved off the side of a ship completely paled in comparison to the beauty of hearing, _"Nia kagalnôzik lôgitôwadwôgan wzomi gia, niswiak,"_ in a deep, sultry tone as he was held against a warm, decidedly male chest.

--

**A/N: Ok, I have a bunch of stuff to run through, so rapid-fire explanations again: **_**Cum**_** is totally me and my friends to a 't'; yes, we are stupid. Matt loves **_**Thick**_** and laughed hysterically when I read it to him over the phone; **_**Quip-Blarni-Quando-Floo **_**is another George Carlin joke, and the joke is that anytime someone asks you to say something or describe something in your own words, to answer "quip blarni quando floo" because no one actually has their own words and just uses the same ones as everybody else; **_**M.I.A. **_**is one of the ones that has been in my head for ages but I couldn't think up a complete plot for, so I never wrote it, not a problem in this particular publication of mine; I thought **_**Bifocals**_** was cute for some mysterious reason; finally, I am ridiculously anal about details and such, because for **_**Mocassins**_** and **_**Teepee, **_**both of which were ones that had long been in my head like **_**M.I.A.**_** was, I actually researched it intensely, figuring out which tribe lived along a coast close to Europe, and once I did, I spent, like, two days looking for an appropriate translator to get the dialogue. o.o**

**Speaking of which, since I doubt any of you know any of the Abenaki language off-handedly:**

_**Channômuk -**_** Stop**

_**Nia nanawaldôzik gia - **_**I will take care of you**

_**Nia kagalnôzik lôgitôwadwôgan wzomi gia, niswiak - **_**I hold adoration for you, my wife.**

**I'm still not totally sure that the grammar is right at all, and it seems a little choppy in the last sentence, but 'adoration' was the only word I could find that was similar to 'love', and since I'm not a native-speaker of it, this was the best I could do; either way, I think it matters most that I made the effort, so...w/e.**

**Next chapter eventually! **

**:D**


	21. Chapter 21

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**201. Plaid-**_

Jack had no clue how it had happened exactly, but decided he liked sitting by a nice, cozy fire in a cabin near the Swiss Alps, sipping cocoa and resting in his lover's arms with a fuzzy plaid blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

It really _was_ quaint.

But, then again...now that he thought about it...'plaid' and 'Chase' normally had some..._interesting_ connotations, at least ever since what he dubbed, "The Raunchy Role-Playing Incident."

Who knew Chase thought he was that sexy in a plaid, school-girl skirt?

_**202. Upside Down Zombie Seal Children-**_

Jack gave a shrill scream, clinging desperately to his lover. "Chase! The upside down zombie seal children are coming! Save me!"

The warlord blinked before dragging the frazzled albino back to the bed, muttering in his half-asleep state, "No pudding before bed again. Ever."

_**203. Philoprogenitiveness-**_

"Psh, please! My parents are anything _but_ philoprogenitive!"

Chase gave him a look. "Do you really believe your parents never loved you? In any way whatsoever?"

"...Well..." Jack thought for a moment, "not _really_...I mean, they're never around or anything, and I can't even _remember_ what my dad looks like."

The warlord pulled the youth into his lap, saying, "They may not know how to be proper parents because of their _own_ upbringing in a rich community, but I believe that they try. After all, they allow you the entire mansion all to yourself when they are gone, and if memory serves, you have unlimited access to several of their bank accounts; surely, that counts for something."

The goth's eyes lit up happily. "You really think so?"

Even as his pride was shoved aside, kicking and screaming, Chase assured, "Of course I do; how could they not love you if even _I_ can?"

_**204. Hyperventilation-**_

"I hyperventilate / looking for help somehow, somewhere / and no one cares / I'm my own worst enemy..."

Grinning as Jack emotionally burst into the chorus, Chase decided that his lover was exceptionally talented at slightly drunk and impassioned karaoke.

"Take this all away / I'm suffocating/ tell me what the fuck is wrong / with me?!"

_**205. Nifty-**_

A long wolf-whistle pierced the relatively quiet conversations in the local malt shop, and someone called out, "Hey, honey, why don't you come sit by me?"

Jack flushed, absently twirling a strand of his dyed-blonde hair around his finger.

When he had decided, after much self-deliberation, to cross-dress in order to attract his long-time crush's attention, he hadn't realized he'd draw so much attention!

In fact, he was now surrounded by three or four different boys, all of whom were trying to sweet-talk 'her'.

"Hey, girlie, you're pretty nifty; care to go out sometime?" One put a hand on the sleeve of 'her' white sweater, asking, "Wouldn't you much rather come roller-skating with me, baby?"

The requests got more and more numerous and pleading, and just when he was _sure_ he would faint, a hand closed around his wrist, tugging him away from the group and pressing him flush against a strong chest.

With a quiet squeak, Jack realized just who both of these things belonged to, and nearly melted upon hearing in the voice he so adored, "Careful, now, you might frighten the lady."

The young man's hand gently smoothed out the crinkles in the pastel-pink poodle-skirt (and at the feeling of that strong hand on his thigh, Jack wondered if he actually _would_ faint this time), before proposing, "Besides, I'm sure she'd _much_ rather go somewhere with _me_, right, sugar?"

A jolt of excitement rocketed up the younger's spine, and using the more-feminine voice he had practiced, he brightly replied, "Sure! I'm Jackie."

A charming grin met his still-red eyes as the disappointed boys dispersed, a strong, masculine arm curling possessively around his waist.

"Chase; pleased to meet you."

_**206. Sandman- **_

The teen's eyes interestedly scanned over the pixel-covered page, easily taking in the action and dialogue that occured; 'Sandman' was, without question, his favorite graphic novel.

His enjoyment of it, however, was cut off as a pair of arms curled tightly around his shoulders, and he tensed with a frown. "What are _you_ doing here?"

A smug chuckle answered him. "I'm not allowed to see my favorite Xiaolin dragon, anymore?"

The shadows in the room deepened as the youth's ire rose and he lost a bit of his elemental control. "Last night was a _mistake_; we're too different, I assure you it'll never happen again."

"Oh? And how exactly are we different?"

"Well, for one, I'm a 'troubled teenager' turned Xiaolin warrior and you're a man cursed with eternal life and youth on the Heylin side; why do you think we could _ever_ have a chance?" he demanded.

Lips ghosted over his neck and a breathy laugh sent the smallest of shivers up his spine. "Because you, _agapē_, are the dragon of darkness, and no matter what, darkness _always_ has the capacity for evil; you will come to realize your proper place soon, and when you do, I will be waiting for you."

And then the man was gone.

The teen cursed himself: the Greek man was evil, had _been_ evil for centuries, so much so that the gods _themselves_ had condemned him to a never-ending life!

As a Xiaolin monk, he should _despise_ such wickedness, but...the thought of those pale, white hands on his body again...

Chase cursed himself once more: he had nearly given in.

_**207. Rebuttal-**_

"Come on, Chase, _please_ let me stay! I can be useful to you, really!"

With a scoff, the elder retorted, "I highly doubt that. Of what use could you _possibly_ be to m-" the warlord abruptly found his ability to speak gone, lips and mouth taken by the younger's, and just as abruptly, his rebuttal gone as well.

_**208. MySpace-**_

Jack nearly laughed himself into a coma upon finding that even Chase Young wasn't above having a MySpace page.

_**209. Egging-**_

"...Let's egg the Xiaolin Temple!"

Chase's eyebrow cocked almost involuntarily as he questioned, "And where did _this_ particular notion stem from?"

Jack put on all the charms in pleading with his lover, a coy smile, slightly clouded eyes, and the barest tilt of his head. "It's like a tradition, Chase," he begged,"_every_ teenager has to egg _something_ before the age of nineteen...! _Please_?"

The warlord appeared to consider this for a moment.

"Well," he eventually conceded, "alright; but _only_ to aid you in your rite of passage."

A devious, excited light behind those golden eyes, however, spoke otherwise.

_**210. Spring Break-**_

During a calm, tranquil session of meditation, it was needless to say that a loud exclamation of, "w00t!" followed by a certain red-head's tackling of him was enough to incite Chase Young's temper.

The man demanded, "What is the _meaning_ of this, Spicer?!"

Jack merely grinned broadly, stating, "It's spring break."

The warlord gave him a look that said, 'So what?' and the goth leaned closer, whispering huskily, "That means I don't have anything to do for a whole week..."

The meaning was most certainly understood, and substantial, intellectual conversations in the next week were to be few and far between.

--

**A/N: **_**Upside Down Zombie Seal Children **_**is another of Matt's weird ideas, and he begged me to include it, so I did because it was weird and nonsensical enough for me to find it amusing. XD**

_**Hyperventilation**_** contains lyrics from the song, Given Up by Linkin Park, and I do not claim any ownership to the song in any way whatsoever except through having purchased the CD, Minutes to Midnight.**

_**Nifty**_** is another one of those ones that's been in my head forever, and in case it's just a little too subtle, the setting is somewhere in America around the fifties, or if that's too vague a time period, or you aren't up to date on the trends of** **different time-periods, then the general time setting of the movie, **_**Grease**_**. If anybody's wondering what will happen when Chase finds out 'Jackie' is actually a boy, I'm going to type up the scene that's in my head so it won't be left off at too much of a cliffhanger:**

_**Jack fell back onto the ground, the softness of the grass cushioning the impact a bit, and he whimpered quietly as he felt Chase straddling his**__**waist and pinning his wrists to the ground; by the fervent kisses and nips along his neck, it was obvious where Chase wanted this to go.**_

_**Of course, Jack wanted that, wanted it more than anything he could remember wanting in a **__**long**__** time, but...it was a lie.**_

_**He wasn't Jackie Stafford, Chase Young's girlfriend; he was Jack Spicer, the repulsive liar who dressed up as girl just for one chance at fulfilling his sick desires.**_

_**He couldn't do this. He couldn't lie to Chase like this anymore, couldn't keep up the decpetion.**_

_**He loved Chase too much for that.**_

_**"Nnh, Chase?" he tried, squirming under the man in an attempt to get his attention.**_

_**This was a futile effort, as the elder merely held him down tighter, smothering his lips in a heated kiss.**_

_**Pulling away quickly, almost as if he'd been burned, Jack tried to catch his breath, doing his best to keep a firm tone as he stated, "We can't do this."**_

_**Smouldering golden eyes caught the youth's breath in his throat, and Chase retorted, "Can't we?"**_

_**Finding his voice, Jack tried again to wriggle out from underneath the larger male, insisting, "No, we can't!"**_

_**"And why not? Why can't I make love to you right here and now?"**_

_**Upon hearing the way the sentence had been phrased, the verb 'make love to' used instead of 'have sex with', Jack was sorely tempted to let the issue drop and just take what was being offered to him, but he knew better; even if he **__**did**__** let Chase get that far with him, he'd undoubtedly figure out he wasn't what he appeared to be soon enough.**_

_**"Because I...I'm not who you think I am!" Noting that he now had the elder's full attention, Jack could no longer stand to make eye-contact, too ashamed of himself and frightened of the doubtless-to-come reaction, but he nonetheless continued, "I...I'm not really a girl."**_

_**"...what?"**_

_**"You probably didn't even know I existed, but we used to go to school together. I always had a...a crush on you, and even though I knew it was wrong, I...I couldn't help...**__**loving**__** you. I...I guess I just got so desperate that I **__**had**__** to know what it was like...if only for a little while...I'm sorry I lied to you like this...I'll understand if you hate me, now, but I just wanted it **__**so**__** much..."**_

_**"...Jack. You're Jack Spicer."**_

_**Though he was shocked that Chase apparently knew his name after all **__**and**__** had figured out it was him, the youth nodded in the affirmative, moving to stand and leave, only to be even further shocked upon finding that the elder still seemed determined to keep him held to the ground, and a pathetic questioning noise escaped his throat.**_

_**"Do you think it makes any difference to me what your gender is?"**_

_**Jack's eyes went wide, and he made a sharp squeak as the words registered in his mind. "It doesn't?"**_

_**Chase scoffed as if the boy had said **__**the**__** stupidest thing in the world. "I fell in love with **__**you**__**, sugar, not your gender; a trivial thing like you being male isn't going to stop me from showing you just how true that is."**_

_**A sense of relief, joy, and excitement flooded through Jack's body, and he relaxed back into the grass, happily allowing Chase to do what he wanted.**_

**Okay, so now that that's wrapped up nicely, the only thing I have left to say is about **_**Sandman;**_** since it might not be totally obvious or some of you are confused, it's, again, one of the ones that's been in my head for months, and the basic premise/summary is this: it's a role reversal universe kind of thing, where Chase and Jack have sort of switched roles. As I have it in my mind, Chase's parents were killed in some horrible accident and he survived by total chance, but became sort of a problem child, you know, classic 'angry at the world' type, and his guardian sent him to the Xiaolin Temple to** **straighten him out. Jack lived in ancient Greece, and lived such a corrupt and wicked life that the gods ended up cursing him with eternal life, and he's recently found himself interested in a certain dragon of darkness.**

**And now that everything is out of the way, I'll be leaving you to whatever other things you all have to do, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Oh, also: '**_**agapē'**_** means **_**'love'**_** in the pure, romantic sense; there are several greek words that mean **_**'love', **_**such as in the passionate, more physical sense(**_**eros**_**), the loyalty to friends, family, etc. sense(**_**philia**_**), the natural affection/parent to child sense(**_**storgē**_**), and the hospitality sense(**_**xenia**_**), but I figured **_**'agapē'**_** would be more appropriate, because we all know how in love Jack is with Chase, and regardless of the universe, between "love of the body" **_**(eros)**_** and "love of the soul" (**_**agapē),**_** the "love of the soul" is more fitting. Then again, I suppose to each his/her own, but that's how I see it.**

**So, again, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll try to get the next one up quickly!**

**:D**


	22. Chapter 22

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**211. Customer-**_

"That one, sir?! I-wh-well, wouldn't you like one of our _prettier_ ones? Perhaps the blond, o-or the brunette?"

Chase frowned at the blatant dodge of his request, and he repeated, "I _asked_ for the albino; I will not settle for anything less."

Seeing that the customer would not be swayed to choose another, the greasy man tried, "But sir, that one happens to be our most expensive: over 200 dollars a night, to be precise."

The frown deepened and the man deftly lay a little more than a thousand dollars on the counter, assuring, "Money is of little issue; I'll take him for the _week_."

Knowing he was beaten, the balding man's chubby fingers greedily pocketed the money and called over the merchandise. "Vanilla! This young gentleman is purchasing you for the next five days!"

Turning back to the buyer as the pale-skinned boy came over, the proprietor gave a lecherous grin. "Now, you be careful with him; this is only his second time."

Chase nodded uncaringly, grabbing 'Vanilla' roughly by the arm as soon as he was close enough and dragging him out of the shady establishment.

Once the pair made it outside, the elder, not even looking at the other, demanded, "_How_ did you get yourself mixed up in this, Spicer?"

Before the teen could explain his tale, his drunk of a mother having finally fallen on hard enough times to follow through with her threat of selling him into the whore-trade, Chase interrupted.

"Nevermind, it is of no consequence. We have five days, that's plenty of time to get you somewhere safe, where they won't be able to find you." At Jack's shocked (though touched) expression, the elder tugged the albino closer, assuring, "I won't let any harm come to you again, Jack: I shall protect you this time."

_**212. Tolerance-**_

"God," Kimiko scoffed, hands on her hips as she watched Jack be his trademarked brand of annoying, "how can anyone even _tolerate_ him?"

The girl then jumped at the reply from just behind her in Chase Young's familiar voice, "He is incompetent, yes, but the sex _more_ than makes up for it."

And then Kimiko fainted.

_**213. Materials-**_

If there was one thing Chase hated about having a genius mechanic as a lover, it was accompanying him on trips to places like Home Depot to obtain building materials.

_**214. Whatever-**_

"Oh, well," Jack stuttered, flustered, "whatever!"

Chase scowled, ordering, "Don't you say 'whatever' to me, Spicer!"

The albino smirked as he came back with, "Fine, I won't; w/e."

_**215. Margin-**_

Jack had been standing on the margin between idolization and flat-out love for four years on the subject of Chase Young.

When their lips met for the first time, he finally stumbled headfirst over that margin and into love.

_**216. Cats-**_

"I mean it, Chase," Jack protested, "I could have been just in time to save your life! Without me around, you might've turned into an eccentric introvert who lives alone with, like, a million cats!"

The goth stopped, inspecting his lover's palace as if for the first time. "Oh. Nevermind," he shrugged, "I _was_ too late."

_**217. Stumble-**_

Jack shrieked, quickly backing off from Chase in terror. The man would _kill_ him for this, and all because he was naturally clumsy and had stumbled at an inopportune moment!

"Oh my god, I'm _so_ sorry, Chase, I-I didn't mean to, I _promise_ it won't happen _ever_ ag-"

His words were cut off abruptly, and the albino squeaked upon realizing that it was the warlord's mouth on his for the second time that day doing so, apparently on purpose this time.

Feeling a bit light-headed as the elder pulled away, Jack felt as if his heart was in danger of immediate failure after hearing, "Let's not be so hasty, now..."

_**218. Curves-**_

"So insecure," Chase chastised, flicking Jack teasingly across the nose. "Just because you don't have a woman's curves, you assume that every time some DD-breasted woman with a tiny waist walks by, I'll find your body inferior? Tsk, fool. If I had wanted one of them, I'd have chosen one in the first place and not even bothered with you."

Jack found this weirdly reassuring, and snuggled up against the warlord, muttering happily, "Thanks, Chase..."

_**219. Scarf-**_

"Wait a minute," Chase called, stopping his younger lover (who was decked out in a winter jacket, wool hat, gloves and snow-boots in preparation for the enjoyment of winter fun) in his tracks, "you'll need this, too."

A black scarf was deftly wrapped around Jack's pale neck, and the goth smiled, giving the warlord a quick peck on the lips. "Okay, now remember: winter wonderland joyness and hot cocoa first, _then_ making love down by the fire, alright?"

Chase smirked wickedly at him. "We'll see..."

_**220. Handbook-**_

"Shouldn't you have betrayed me by now, Spicer?"

"Wait a minute, let me check my 'Emo Minor Villain Handbook'!"

"..._handbook_?"

The goth quickly thumbed through several pages before muttering, "Okay, if I _did_, it would improve my 'angst rating' and 'audience sympathies' for inner turmoil and trust issues, but then again, if I don't, my 'yaoi fangirl popularity' would at least triple, suddenly in-character fanfictions and fanarts would be praised, and my 'kawaii factor' would go through the roof, so I think I'll stay."

At Chase's blank stare, Jack added teasingly, "If you were nicer to me or kissed me when we were on-air, the fangirls would go _nuts_, you know."

--

**A/N: ...Nothing to say again, except with **_**Handbook: **_**Oh, yeah, I went there; I broke the fourth wall. Many times.**

**Other than that I hope you liked the chapter!**

**:D**


	23. Chapter 23

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**221. Scissors-**_

Jack frowned lightly at his reflection in the mirror, noting that his hair was beginning to fall into his eyes, and under his breath, he muttered, "Tch, I'll have to get a haircut soon..."

The goth jumped as his lover suddenly materialized from the shadows, pressing him firmly up against the bathroom wall. "_Why_", he questioned, voice husky and rough, "would you take scissors to _this_?"

The man's gloved fingers ran through his younger lover's hair, a small thrill of pleasure shooting through him as the strands draped slack over his elegant digits.

Jack shivered under the hot, deliberate stare, and decided he just _might_ want to keep it at this length.

_**222. Lace-**_

Chase couldn't hold back a grin upon seeing his soon-to-be bride, a nervous flush on the younger's cheeks as he was led up the aisle by his obviously-uncomfortable mother.

Lace really brought out the fragility of his Jack's features.

_**223. Cave-**_

Jack 'oof'-ed softly as a heavy, black-scaled tail thumped onto his stomach lazily, and his hand shot up to his forehead as an instinctive gesture of straightening his crown, which hadn't _really_ been jostled by the tail anyways.

Taking his shift as an attempt to get free, however, the massive beast growled low in his chest, sending the stern, telepathic communication, "You are not to leave here, prince; you know well enough that dragons are possessive of their treasures, and you, my ivory doll, are no exception. You are _mine_."

The ex-royal looked around the cave that was the dragon's lair, examining the many sparkling, expensive gems and objects and then looked up to do the same for the dark majestic reptile looming over him.

A sudden pride at being counted among so many beautiful things owned by a creature just as beautiful, if not moreso, washed over him at that moment. Gently running a pale, white hand along the onyx scales of the appendage over his middle, Jack assured, "Of course I am."

_**224. Chi-**_

A cliche bolt of lightning struck the earth, adding to the miserable, wet atmosphere, the very one that now saw what would be the death of Chase Young.

He was already too weakened to put up much more of a fight, and was now left to wonder how it had come to this.

In the darkness, he was fully able to see the image of his killer-to-be: red eyes, the right normal and the other glowing brightly but both filled with obvious glee at his pain, black tattoos on the forehead and over the left eye that had once belonged to a dark chi wizard, and another one on his exposed stomach of a demon, this one giving him the ever-so-deadly control over the Shadowkhan.

He had absorbed the abilities of three powerful beings: the dragon, Shendu, the dark chi wizard, Daolon Wong, and the demon Tarakudo, and all because he had felt rejected, because Chase had never believed he was strong enough.

Now that he was, he believed that if he had to prove himself, that it wasn't worth it, and by transition, Chase himself wasn't worth it, and now he sought to destroy the man's life as a means of closure on the issue.

Chase's defiance against this crumbled at the thought: if the poor, deluded boy felt that this needed to be done...so be it.

The last thing he felt was a wrenching, ripping feeling tearing pain throughout his body as Jack Spicer took the very last of his chi away from him.

_**225. Elephant-**_

Chase was happy.

This was possibly the first night in a week that Jack hadn't interrupted his sleep with some stupid question or a night-terror, and the warlord had nearly forgotten how _nice_ it was to just be able to lie next to that pale, warm body in silence.

"Hey, I was going to eat that croquet mallet! I bid my elephant upon you!"

...Okay, the sleep-talking could be a problem sometimes, but at least it wasn't a nightmare or a dumb question, again, right?

_**226. Wire-**_

"Spicer? What are you doing here?"

Said youth didn't answer the question, and instead moved closer, laying his hands on the man's shoulders, coming nearly nose-to-nose with him. "Don't talk, Chase," the boy purred, "there's better things to do with your mouth..."

And then he proved it, kissing the warlord fiercely on the lips and tangling his fingers in the long, black hair.

As soon as it started, however, it was ended as the sound of metal colliding with metal tore through the air, followed by a crackle of electricity as the machine went off-line.

Above the automaton stood the _real_ Jack Spicer, wrench in hand and an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm _really_ sorry about this, Chase," he spoke quickly, "I was trying to fix the bugs in RoboJack's system, but he must have a wire _beyond_ crossed, like, in some weird, complicated sailor's knot or something, 'cause I totally don't know what's wrong with him. You gotta believe I never meant for him to get out, you know, unstable emotional unit and armed to the teeth and all, but..." He sighed. "You know what? Nevermind..." The goth grabbed his broken robot double by the ankle and began dragging him off. "I'll just...go."

Chase, however, stopped him by the shoulder and simply looked at him for a long, drawn out moment.

"Um...Chase?" the youth inquired.

This time it was Chase who didn't answer verbally, and instead kissed the other full on the lips, resulting in a startled squeak. Pulling away from the stock-still goth, the warlord smirked, "The original is better than the replica; status quo."

_**227. Gauze-**_

Jack moaned helplessly through the gauze that had been jammed in his mouth and held there with a torn, ratty strip of cloth. His head was pounding viciously from the hard strike to the back of his skull that had knocked him unconscious hours ago, and as his vision swam into hazy, dim focus, he sorely wished he could have remained oblivious through the pain of it.

The location was nondescript, typical of a post-kidnapping setting, and when two grungy-looking men stepped into his field of view, he gasped (or at least tried to).

The one who was probably the brains of the operation stepped forward with a malicious grin and gripped his chin roughly, forcing eye-contact. "Alright, listen up, princess: you're going to be a good little bitch until your filthy-rich parents pay that ransom note we left for 'em. Until then? Stay quiet and don't try to escape."

As the two of them left, shutting off the lights and slamming the door, Jack let out a terror-stricken, dejected whimper as tears streamed down his cheeks: they had left the note at his house, the place where his _parents never were_, and no one else knew _anything_ about this.

A choked, broken sob was muffled by the primitive gag: he was going to be here a _long_ time...

_**228. Handcuffs-**_

"It's almost been a week, now! Why the hell haven't the kid's parents payed up the ransom yet?!"

"Probably just cheap."

"Whatever! He's more of a liability than an asset now. I say we kill him!"

Jack overheard all of this through the cheap, thin walls of his entrapment, and surprisingly enough, he didn't care in the slightest.

The ache in his head hadn't subsided at all, his mouth constantly felt dry from the excessive amount of gauze (which he must have nearly swallowed three times by now), the handcuffs shackling him to the chair had bitten into his wrists fairly deeply, leaving dried blood to cake onto his hands and fingers, and after "almost a week" of not being fed, the pangs of his stomach were almost _unbearable_.

At this miserable point, he would _welcome_ death.

Besides, no one would come for him anyways...

A loud crash from the other side of the door interrupted his suicidal musings, followed by the screams of his captors mixed in with the bloodthirsty roars of jungle cats.

"No!" a vaguely familiar voice commanded. "For now, they live; I will personally make them _suffer_ later. Take them to the dungeons to wait."

The door to Jack's prison was easily broken through, and the youth was vaguely aware of the ropes around his ankles and the handcuffs on his wrists being torn away before he was scooped up and held against a strong, armored chest.

Unable to open his eyes at the moment, the albino only heard a disparaging 'tsk' and the soft mutter of, "They should have _known_ his body wasn't made for man-handling," before the cloth around his mouth was ripped off and the gauze deftly yanked out, drawing a slight, sputtering cough/gag from the youth along with the instinctive jerk of his body in protest.

At the struggling, his savior spoke in a gentle tone so as not to frighten him, "Easy, Spicer, I'll take care of you; a nice bath, tend your wrists, and get a good, hot meal in you, and you'll be fine. Just rest, now."

Through the haze of exhaustion, before Jack completely gave into the bliss of a comfortable sleep, his frazzled mind managed the thought, _"Chase?"_

_**229. Pedophile-**_

The definition of 'pedophile' was 'an adult whose primary sexual interest is in children'.

Chase, aged eighteen, looked at the thirteen-year-old boy sound asleep in his lap and considered the fact that he had 'been with' the tween ever since his parents had adopted the youth (at which point _he_ had been thirteen and the albino had only been eight).

As the young boy twitched in his sleep, snorting softly and cuddling closer to his older lover, Chase ultimately decided that he wasn't a pedophile for loving him: it had always been _Jack_ that he was sexually attracted to, not the fact that he was a child.

_**230. Tape-**_

Utterly pleased with the (almost) quiet of the room, Chase held Jack tighter against him despite the youth's struggles and finally acknowledged one of the newer adages as truth: "Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver."

--

**A/N: Ok, since I'm lazy, I'm just going to do rapid-fire explanations again: Chase thinks Jack is sexy with longer hair, Jack **_**would**_** wear a dress to his own wedding because he's just like that, :nothingtosayabout**_**Cave:,**__**Chi**_** is a crossover with Jackie Chan Adventures because I'm psychotic in my brain and thought of it, Jack seems like the type to talk in his sleep:nothingtosayabout**_**Wire:**_**, if Jack **_**is**_** rich, somebody would be bound to kidnap him and hold him for ransom, and it's finally happened in **_**Gauze**_**, and Chase wouldn't allow his Jack to be "man-handled" for any longer than a week, so I wrote **_**Handcuffs**_** as a follow-up, I think **_**Pedophile**_** is kind of cute, regardless of the implications, and "Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver" is one of my favorite, more modern, adages.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**:D**


	24. Chapter 24

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**231. Childhood-**_

Mrs. Sarah Young was a very busy woman.

With her husband in a business conference in his home country on the other side of the world, a busy job herself as a real estate agent, a teenaged son in middle school, and another son (newly adopted) being enrolled in elementary school, she was kept occupied around the clock.

Brushing a blond lock of hair behind her ear, she wondered aloud, "Now where _are_ those boys? They'll be late for the bus..."

As if on cue, her biological child stepped into the room, an undecipherable expression on his face.

"Chase?" she wondered. "Honey, where's your brother?"

"Jack isn't feeling very well, mother," the youth replied.

"What?!" the woman gasped, "Oh, no! He'll have to stay home, then, and I can't afford to miss work to take care of him; I'll have to call a sitter, and-"

"Mother," Chase interrupted, "I know this will seem odd, but I'd like to stay home with him."

Sarah's large, brown eyes blinked owlishly for a moment, confused. "What?"

Her son fixed her with a serious look. "It would save you the money of having to pay the sitter, and it would give Jack and I time to bond."

This won the woman over, and she consented, "Oh, alright, honey." She leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. "I'll go call you both in sick and then head off to work."

Chase nodded in acceptation and turned and walked off to his stepbrother's room, where the albino boy was lying prone under the covers of his bed. Sitting on the edge, he tugged the small form into his lap, holding the tired, young body to his chest.

Upon hearing the front door slamming, signifying his mother's departure, the teen muttered regretfully, "I shouldn't have done that to you last night..."

With a slight noise of pain upon moving his sore body, Jack looked up at his stepbrother with wide, tear-filled, red eyes. "Why not?" he inquired.

Jumping slightly at the unexpected despair in his voice, Chase answered, "Well, you're too young, I didn't even ask your permission, and-"

"I liked it."

The teen inhaled sharply at the firm words. "What?"

"I liked it," the boy repeated. "You made me feel good; no one's ever done that before. And you said you were trying to show me how much you loved me; that wasn't a lie, was it?"

"No!" Chase assured immediately, "No, I just-"

"Well, I love you, too, and not just like brothers are supposed to love brothers," Jack admitted, "like a mommy loves a daddy. I _want_ you to love me like I love you. I _liked_ it when you showed me how much you love me by...doing that thing to me." The boy's eyes took on an earnest quality at he stared up at Chase. "As long as you love me, you can do _that_ all you want."

The elder sighed, holding the albino closer. "You don't know what you're saying," he informed.

"Maybe I don't," Jack conceded, "but I know that I want to be with you, and you said that you wanted to be with me, too! Can't we...can't we make this work out like it's supposed to? Like how I _know_ it's supposed to be?"

Hearing the hurt and desperation in the boy's voice, Chase sighed and gave in to what the both of them wanted. "Alright, Jack, we can try this; but _no one_ can know, not until you're eighteen."

The albino's face lit up, and he hugged his foster brother tightly, exclaiming, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I won't tell, Chase, I _swear_!" Nuzzling the teen's neck, he cooed, "I love you..."

Smiling down at the boy in his arms, Chase replied, "I love you, too..."

_**232. Nutshell-**_

Jack snickered as Chase compared him to a character from the cartoon they were watching for lack of anything else to do, _Dave the Barbarian_.

"Yeah," the goth amiably agreed, "that's me in a nutshell." Jack then paused, thinking on his choice of words before amending, "Although if I actually _were_ in a nutshell, I think I'd be pretty scared."

"...In what situation would you _ever_ find yourself in a _nutshell_, of all things, Spicer?"

The albino merely shrugged. "Weirder things have happened."

_**233. Dough-**_

"You ever hear the one about the guy who wished for all the dough in the world?"

Chase cocked an eyebrow, wondering on the relevance of this. "No," he said.

The creature smirked devilishly before replying, "He ended up buried under a pile of baked goods; you see, _that's_ the kind of 'overly literal' crap my species is known for. We _hate_ seeing others happy from exploiting our powers, _especially_ when they try to act like they don't need us as their slaves anymore but still refuse to free us."

Chase 'hmm'-ed quietly before querying, "And why are you telling me this, Jacquiel? Wouldn't it be in your best interests to keep that hidden from me?"

The entity made a sound of disgust at his name, begging, "Jack, _please_."

A pale hand came up to comb back his white hair, the shift causing light to glint off of the golden bands around his wrists, upper arms, and throat. "I'm telling you this," he said, "because I've had a lot of masters in the last couple of centuries, and I mean a _lot_ of masters, and I haven't liked a single one of 'em. You? I like you for some reason."

He shifted in the chair he had taken residence in, his arm now resting over the back of it, causing several ruby ornaments on his cloth belt to clink musically against each other as his smoky, black tail moved along with the new position of his hips, "I want you to get the most out of your three wishes while you still have me, 'cause unless it's explicitly-stated, I'll fuck it up to be something totally different on instinct."

Forcing down the urge to silence the talkative genie with his mouth and run his hand along that exposed, white torso, Chase looked directly into the creature's red, heavily kohl-lined eyes, recognizing, "Thank you for the courtesy, then, Jack."

_**234. Dagger-**_

Jack made a high, thin sound upon feeling the sharp, cold edge of a dagger against his throat, his arm suddenly twisted and held behind his back.

From behind him, he heard, "Alright, nobody moves, or the prince gets a knife in his neck! Now, unless you want your kingdom short one royal, you'll empty the treasury and-"

The words were cut off abruptly with a gurgling noise of pain, and as the metal at his neck and the arm on his disappeared, Jack turned to see what had happened.

Standing above the would-be terrorist, standard-issue dagger bloodied and menacing, was a guard the prince had never seen before.

He wore the average dark green and black uniform, complete with cap, pistol, and dress sword, but different from the other guards was his dark hair, long and freely-spilled over his back and shoulders, and, of course, those _eyes_...

Jack found himself in a state akin to paralysis, unable to break away from that stern, golden gaze.

...The prince had a feeling he'd soon make a point of giving this man the position of personal guard..

_**235. Smudge-**_

"Chase Young, you will _not_ get away with this!"

The warlord chuckled condescendingly down at the yellow-skinned Xiaolin dragon. "Oh, I beg to differ, young monk. In fact, I already ha-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" One Jack Spicer dashed into the fray, moving to stand before the taller of the two. "Hang on, Chase, there's a smudge on your armor; I'll get it!"

The man groaned, mortified, as the goth licked his thumb and rubbed it vigorously over the smudge on his chest plate.

Once the boy deemed the offending mark gone, he proudly declared, "There you go, carry on!" before running off, leaving Omi and Chase to stare uncomfortably at each other.

"Um...Chase Young, are we...are we still going to battle?"

The warlord facepalmed, moaning, "You know, suddenly, I don't exactly want to anymore."

_**236. Habits-**_

Jack was a creature of habit: every morning at 5:00 AM, he would wake up, go through the basic hygiene processes, and then return to his bed to sleep for a good four more hours, and this morning was so far no different.

The clock on the nightstand read 5:10 AM when Jack reentered his room and cuddled back under the warm covers, and he was nearly settled in for perhaps even a _five_ hour sleep when an arm curled around his waist and pulled him against a strong body, forcing a squeak of surprise from his throat.

He was soon quieted, however, with the statement, "In case you've forgotten, which I wouldn't put past you, we spent the night together, and I, for one, am tired, as you should be as well; go to sleep, Spicer."

Jack obediently relaxed, thinking he'd best make room for Chase in his routine before falling back asleep.

_**237. Returning-**_

Chase had been surprised when he had been asked to return to the throne room, and then even moreso upon being told he was being reassigned as the prince's personal bodyguard.

Still, it didn't much matter how surprised he was, because orders were orders, and he was currently duty-bound to check in on the boy before he went to sleep for the night.

Upon entering the prince's bedroom, the royal in question already in bed (though on his side and half-sitting up), he questioned, "Is all well with you, your majesty?"

The youth fixed him with an unreadable stare before stating, "Not quite," then ordering, "Remove your cap, soldier."

Blinking for a moment, confused, Chase hesitated, "My lord?"

"You heard me, soldier," the royal growled, "that was an order."

Apprehensively, he did as Jack had asked, prompting a pleased grin from the albino youth.

"Good, now the gloves, boots, and socks."

"My lord, I-"

"That was an order," the prince reminded in a chiming tone, and the guard reluctantly did so. "Your weapons, too," he added casually, "on the nightstand."

"Sire," Chase protested, "that would leave me unarmed if a threat were to befall you!"

Jack merely gave him a stern look that said, 'do it or else' and the soldier had no choice, unsheathing his dress sword from his belt before unbuckling and removing the belt itself which held his sheathed dagger and the holster that contained his pistol.

The prince inspected him with a pleased expression for a moment. "There," he purred, "now get on the bed."

"What?! My lord, I-"

"Do as I say, dammit!" Jack snarled.

And Chase reluctantly obeyed, only to be further shocked as the prince shoved him onto his back, practically tearing open the buttons of his uniform and pressing his lips to his chest, kissing a trail up to his neck.

As the albino begun to suck harder on hs throat, marking him, while his hand had already undone the button of his trousers, Chase buried his fingers in the prince's white hair, tugging him away, and demanded, "What do you think you're doing, my lord?"

Red eyes foggy with lust as his hand was seized away from the guard's lower body, the prince answered in a husky whisper, "You," before returning to his earlier actions, this time kissing at the elder's lower belly teasingly.

Realizing very quickly where this was going, Chase again tugged the youth away, warning, "This could cause a _huge_ scandal, sire."

Jack scowled, frustrated. "Are you gonna shut up and let me blow you or not?!"

And Chase then found that he didn't really have anything else to say to that.

_**238. Hot Potato-**_

Jack's fingers danced over the piano keys as he sang, "Hot potato is a very different game when the people playing are starving. Then it's more like,'My potato! Burned fingertips, and I don't give a damn, free potato!' "

Chase then interjected with, "What is your obsession with Demetri Martin?"

_**239. Tooth-**_

"Oh, please, Spicer, you're so homosexual that whenever you wear white and walk into a bedroom, someone exclaims, 'Oh, look, it's the Tooth Fairy!' "

Jack gaped at Chase open-mouthed for a full minute. "Chase...you made a _joke_! Holy crap, it's the apocalypse! Chase Young has a sense of humor!"

_**240. Lawless-**_

"Be careful, Jack: this town is the epitome of lawlessness."

The goth stopped, scowling at Chase. "Who the _hell_ says 'lawless' anymore? What are you, _Clay_, now? God, I don't even know if I want to be seen with you anymore if you're going to use _that_ kind of language!"

--

**A/N: Ok, rapid fire explanations because I remain lazy: **_**Childhood**_** is a continuation of **_**Pedophile**_**, Nutshell was an idea given to me by Matt along with **_**Smudge,**__**Returning **_**is a sequel to **_**Dagger **_**because I didn't want it to end there, and that's about it.**

**Now this chapter and the next two to be coming were part of a Matt vs Internet Word Generator war, in which they competed to give me the best words for the chapters. In this round, Matt lost to the Generator, in the second round, they tied, and in the final round, Matt won. He was very proud of himself. XD**

**Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for reading!**

**:D**


	25. Chapter 25

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**241. Touché-**_

"Aw, come on, Chase, you've got to admit, you're at least a _little_ bit weird: you live by yourself with a bunch of cats."

The warlord huffed, countering, "This coming from the boy who owns a collection of metal scraps that look like famous scientists?"

Jack 'hm'-ed thoughtfully, fingering the cool steel of 'Albert Einstein' in his pocket. "Touché..."

_**242. Gentleman-**_

Jack flushed as Chase helped him down from the carriage, impressedly cooing, "My, what a gentleman you are, Mister Young!"

The wealthy young bachelor grinned sharply as he countered, "Only to those I find attractive, Spicer, and you are a particularly lovely young thing, as I see it."

"Why I never!" Jack gasped, surprised at the straightforwardness. "What a catty thing to say to a newly-widowed young man!"

Chase smirked wickedly, boldly curling an arm around the younger's waist. "If I had _my_ way, you wouldn't long be a widow."

"Oh," the smaller male playfully smacked the man's arm away with a smile, "you _are_ a cheeky one, aren't you?"

_**243. Egos-**_

_"I wish you had legs like a human."_

Jacquiel gasped at the wish, feeling his manacles emitting the familiar pressure on his magic that forced him to obey, and as his smoky tail split in two and solidified, he quickly latched onto the bedpost, supporting himself with his arms as his knees buckled unsteadily under his weight.

"Ngh, master?" he inquired, tone deceptively sweet. "Uh, yeah, y'see, the last time I had legs was, oh, about _three centuries_ ago! I can't exactly _stand_ on them very well, FYI!"

Chase looked at the genie for less than even a full second before assuring, "You won't be standing on them very much," before roughly tackling the creature to the bed and sitting in between the newly-formed, black-clothed legs, entirely heedless of the entity's startled squeak as he began to undo the ornamented sash around his stark-white waist.

`~`~`~`

Chase growled at the avoidance, pressing the genie further into the bed. _"I wish you'd get over your __**damned ego**__, and admit the truth!"_

Red eyes widened, and Jack desperately tried to keep his lips clamped firmly shut, but his own magic betrayed his will once more, tingling through his mouth, forcing it to open and blurt out, "I love you!"

His hand clapped over his mouth just after it was said, and the pale creature whimpered softly, his head turning away in shame.

Carefully, gently, Chase tugged the limb away from the smaller creature's face, softly gripping his chin and forcing eye contact.

The genie's master said nothing and instead dipped down to tenderly capture Jack's lips with his own.

`~`~`~`

Tears streamed down Jack's pale, white cheeks as the entity sobbed brokenly against his master's strong chest, his body quivering with every uneven intake of breath.

The man had been drilling the genie about his past, his previous masters, and he had finally broken down and told him _everything_: every master that had violently abused him for being so freakish and demonic-looking, every master that had deemed his body as useful as his magic and had abused him _sexually_ at every opportunity, and of course, all of the masters that were kind to him and respectful of his wishes, every last one of _those_ existing only in his dreams.

Despair having so thoroughly taken hold of him, Jack didn't even notice his master's grip on him tighten, and the mouth that had moved just next to his ear went equally as ignored.

Ignored, that is, until the genie heard the soft whisper of Chase's final wish.

_"I wish you were free."_

Jack's entire body jolted slightly as the wish was recognized, and the pale creature arched his back with a quiet cry of release, the pressure he had felt constantly restricting his magic for the past four millennium disippating into nothing as the physical representation of his oppression, his thick, golden manacles, symbolically did the same.

Almost immediately, a strong pulse of magic rippled through the room, and yet Jack's physical body remained motionless. Red eyes were opened wide, but saw next to nothing, even as he slowly raised a hand to his throat.

Upon feeling his own flesh where he had once felt only cold metal, the genie seemed to return, at least a little bit, to the world of the living.

"This...this is real..." he spoke, dazed. "I'm really _free_, aren't I, master?"

Realizing that the elder creature (though still only about fifteen physically and mentally) was in a state of mild shock, Chase ran his fingers through his soft, white hair.

"Yes, Jack," he assured, "you're really free. I'm no longer your master, and I will be the last: no one will ever own you again."

Jack processed this for a few moments and with a start, realized...

"Chase?" he squeaked, voice barely a whisper as a pink flush stained his cheeks. "I...I've wanted freedom for _so long_...now that I actually _have_ it...I don't know what to do with myself." The blush burned just a bit hotter. "I've spent so much time as a slave that I don't know what I'm supposed to do now..."

Chase smirked as he slid his hands down to lightly grip the smaller being's slim hips. "You could always stay with me..." he offered slyly.

A feeling something like a cross between happiness and possessive pride swept through the man as the genie cuddled up against him, declaring, "Then I'll stay here! I love you, Chase."

The man grinned, repeating the phrase as he thought about just what this meant: Jack was immortal, forever young, and chock-full of now-unbridled power, just as Chase himself was, and the genie's loyalty belonged strictly to him.

By Chase's figuring, the world was pretty much fucked.

_**244. Unleashed-**_

An angry growl met Jack's ears, and the albino sighed helplessly, gently petting the large, dark-furred dog in an attempt to soothe the animal.

"Look," he breathed, "I'm _sorry_ Chase, but the only one who might be able to reverse this with the Shen Gong Wu that did it destroyed is totally on the other side of town, and...well, the leash laws here are pretty strict. I'm not getting fined or something just 'cause you're a stubborn bitch. Now, let's just try and make this as quick and painless as possible, okay?"

The abnormally large canine huffed in resignation, his temper slightly appeased upon seeing that Spicer had been kind enough to at least make the choice of collar tasteful (nearly identical to the sash he wore with his armor), and reluctantly bared his throat for the boy to put it on him.

_**245. Vertigo-**_

"Do you get Vertigo?"

Chase quirked an eyebrow at the peculiar question. "No..." he answered warily.

The goth sighed in relief, "Oh, thank god, it's not just me! I saw it _three times_, and I _still_ didn't get it."

_**246. Witnessed-**_

"Mr. Spicer, you are a vital witness in a global terrorist plot. You are in a great deal of danger now that your testimony has been announced. You realize that these people will do _anything_ to keep you from talking, yes?"

Jack swallowed hard and nodded, his hands wringing instinctively in his lap from anxiety.

"Naturally, as a result, we've provided you with the best protection available, our top agent." The suit nodded a man over, and introduced, "This is Chase Young, the best of the best, the cream of the crop. He's been given orders to protect you with his life until the date of the trial."

The FBI agent nodded stiffly, addressing, "I'll be at your service for the next week, Mr. Spicer."

Admiring the agent's masculine physique, blatantly apparent even under the starch-stiff black suit, Jack distractedly replied, "Pleased to meet you..."

_**247. Punishment-**_

"You've been a very bad boy, Jack, you know that?"

The albino panted helplessly beneath his elder lover, his wrists tied above his head and shallow claw marks now cut into his soft, white belly. "Oh, you vicious _brute_!" Jack moaned out, closing his eyes and turning his head away.

Chase grinned sharply, licking some of his lover's blood off of his claws. "You know you love it; now lie back and take your punishment like the bitch you are."

The goth practically purred at the rough, commanding tone and did as he was told.

_**248. Tail-**_

Chase didn't completely know what to do with himself now.

The gypsy woman had said that this _disgusting_ canine form would wear off on it's own at about seven AM of the next day, and it was currently about two, meaning he had approximately five hours left of being like this.

Jack was in a deep sleep on the sofa (as Chase had long ago claimed the bed as his and refused to allow Jack anywhere _near_ it) of the cheap apartment he had rented here so that they could get information on the afflicted's condition, and simply _could not_ be awakened for the purpose of entertaining him.

Hesitantly, uncertainly, the warlord turned man's best friend approached the slumbering goth, climbing up onto the couch next to the boy and curling up by his side.

As he drifted off into sleep, though he didn't realize it, his fluffy tail was wagging.

_**249. Requiem-**_

Chase was stunned.

Jack..._couldn't_ be dead...there was no possible way he...or at least he couldn't have died from something so insignificant as pneumonia! It was...unfathomable!

The feeling of something precious having been taken permanently away from him hit _hard_, and suddenly, the mighty Chase Young's knees could no longer support him.

He now knelt in front of the cold grey tombstone that was so cruelly impersonal as to read only, 'JACKSON SPICER' and nothing more, the funeral, too, being so uncaring as to not include a requiem.

_"...Chase?...what are __**you**__ doing here?"_

Looking up to find the source of the voice, the warlord's eyes widened at what he saw, and he all but breathed, "Jack..."

The transparent image of the youth accurately depicted what he had looked like in his final moments: sleep-tousled white hair, dark circles of exhaustion under bloodshot red eyes, and an overall frailty to the snow-white youth that he never truly seemed to have when he was alive.

He looked so weak and tired, even now that he was dead.

_"...Chase, why are you here?"_

The man stood, approaching the ghostly figure with determination. He knew that his arms would pass through Jack's not-truly-there body should he try to hold him, but this didn't stop Chase from pantomiming it to get his point across.

"I swear, Spicer," he promised, "I will not rest until I can do this for real, until you are among the living once again."

Though the deceased boy was confused and didn't understand why the assurance was being made (Chase hated him, didn't he?), he decided he rather liked the warmth the man's living body provided through the close proximity, and simply relaxed, enjoying the moment.

Chase would explain this on his own terms later.

For now? This felt _really_ nice...

_**250. Resort-**_

Chase sighed contentedly at the feel of the sun's warmth on his skin. He hated to admit it, but Jack had the right idea with going to this vacation resort.

His golden eyes darting further down the beach, he caught sight of said lover, dressed only in a pair of black swim trunks, emerging from the water.

His white skin sparkled and glowed as the sun reflected his water-damp body, and Chase nearly moaned aloud as Jack's hand slicked back soaked, fiery red hair, his eyes of a similar shade falling shut instinctively as he did so.

Oh, yes, Chase thought to himself, coming here had been a _very_ good idea...

--

**A/N: Okay, what's to say?**

_**Touché- **_**I pretty much co-wrote this one with Matt, and we thought it was funny, so, if you don't think it's amusing...well, first of all, you're wrong, but if you don't find it funny, then w/e, at least we got a laugh out of it. XD**

_**Gentleman-**_** Um...yeah, I was bored when I wrote this, and I thought it'd be funny for there to be chack in a "Pride and Prejudice" kind of setting, and it's written assuming that in whatever imaginary world it is, that men marrying men was okay with people back then (which it wasn't, because people still aren't okay with it now). And yes, Jack was previously married, but his husband died early in the marriage, so that's why he's a widow.**

_**Egos-**_** Ok, this was **_**really**_** long, but I wanted to fit all three of Chase's wishes into it and get it to a good conclusion point, which I think I did pretty well; maybe not perfect, but acceptable at least. This is the continuation of **_**Dough**_**, because I honestly **_**couldn't**_** have left it there even if I wanted to: I was far too attracted to the concept to do that.**

_**Unleashed- **_**Uh...I honestly don't know how to excuse this one, but...I figure if Chase were turned into a dog, he'd be pretty pissed off considering his general love for felines, and he'd be even further pissed at being forced to be led around on a collar and leash by **_**anyone, **_**much less Jack, but hey, the mysterious, unnamed city they're in looking for a cure to the dog-ness is strict with the leash laws, and even though he's a rich-bitch, Jack doesn't want to pay a fine. Probably just cheap. XD**

_**Vertigo**_**- If you've ever seen the movie, you'll know I blatantly ripped off a joke from the Animaniacs movie, Wakko's Wish; if you haven't seen it, forget I said it, and hail my creativity in the joke. XD Seriously, I don't really get Vertigo, either, and apparently, neither does Matt, but maybe I just don't have an eye for creative theater. Meh, w/e.**

_**Witnessed**_**- Just another one of those ideas I think would be interesting, not much else to say about that one.**

_**Punishment-**_** Alright, now, I **_**know**_** Jack's probably too much of a wuss to be into S&M, but Chase probably would be to some extent, and could conceivably force Jack to play along, and who knows? He might decide he likes it after all! :D**

_**Tail- **_**Follow-up to **_**Unleashed**_**, 'cause I was bored; I think it's cute, so...w/e.**

_**Requiem-**_** This was written under the assumption the Jack had died before Chase had a chance to get over his ego and admit his feelings. I may or may not write a follow-up to this one, but in case I don't, rest assured knowing that Chase will eventually find a way to bring his beloved back amongst the living, and all will be well.**

_**Resort- **_**Okay, assuming Jack **_**is**_** an albino, he probably wouldn't be very pleased about spending time in the sun, and would probably vehemently oppose going to a beach resort under any circumstances, but let's just say he doesn't mind and wanted to do something fun with Chase, if just for the sake of the story. XD**

**And that's about it, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D**


	26. Chapter 26

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**251. Fangirl-**_

"So, anyways, you can really see how-" Jack stopped abruptly, with no warning, and just stared into space. "Something's...not...right..."

"I'll say," Chase scoffed, "there's no _way_ a hippopotamus of _any_ species would willingly wear noodles upon its back-"

"No, Chase, really!" the goth insisted, "You can mock my inner-thoughts later! This is _serious_!" There was silence for a moment before Jack's eyes widened and he inhaled sharply. "..._fangirls_..."

Chase blinked. "What?"

"_FANGIRLS_!" the goth shrieked, and just as he did so, a veritable _ocean_ of girls burst into the room, screeching joyfully at the sight of the two males in the room.

"OMG, Chase isn't wearing a shirt!"

"Jack's clothes are all ruffled, too!"

"Squee, they're _sooo_ cute!" The females then proceeded to rush them all at once.

Upon seeing the hundreds of girls charging him, Jack's self-preservation instinct kicked in, and the teen quickly activated his heli-pack and flew towards the window and freedom/safety.

"Spicer!" Chase called, half-buried under the women already, "You don't intend to leave me with these harpies, _do you_?!" The man's long, dark hair was yanked on, jerking his head back with a snarl before he was completely consumed by the human sea.

"Chase!" Jack exclaimed, concerned, and he turned back to save his lover, or at least he was _going_ to until a brunette girl, about his age and not quite five feet tall, jumped onto him clinging adoringly to his trench coat.

"Hey, Jack, will you marry me?" she asked with a smile.

"What?!" the albino gasped, "No! I'm with Chase!"

The girl nodded slowly in understanding. "Yeah, I totally get that. It's cool; I'll just take a souvenir, instead!"

Before he was fully-aware of what was happening, Jack's goggles were torn off and the female leapt off of him, forcing the goth towards the pile of doom as she did so...

Later, Jack quivered in his lover's lap, completely naked and slightly bruised.

Chase had gotten off a bit better, seeing as fangirls don't have the patience to figure out all the clasps and ties on armor skirting, shin-guards, and the like, but his sash had been pilfered, and a few overeager women had torn out several strands of hair and left him with a ruffled look he'd never really had before that moment.

"...Chase?" Jack asked, breaking the tense slience. "I...I think I lost my virginity."

The man scoffed quietly, still a bit shaken by the experience, as he pointed out, "You lost that to me _long_ ago, Spicer."

"I meant my _woman_-virginity!" the goth snapped before going still again and moaning in terror.

Knowing better now than to dismiss the boy's premonitions, Chase asked, "What is it?"

The soft edge of a sob worked its way into his tone as Jack trembled out, "_Fanboys_..."

_**252. Abomination-**_

Jack shook, groaning aloud as the witch's curse took its hold on his body, twisting and changing him inside and out.

The only thing that made it hurt worse was the fact that Chase was watching, was about to fully see the monster he was to become.

His teeth sharpened into fangs, his hair began dripping poison from the very tips, and his hands elongated and became pointed into three-fingered claws. His back arched and his body convulsed with a scream as a long, thick tail tore itself from his body, thrashing wildly as bat-like wings followed it, ripping through the flesh of his back.

As the pain of the transformation very slowly subsided, leaving a dull ache in his bones, Jack sluggishly pulled himself to his knees, softly rasping out, "Don't look at me, Chase, _please_...I'm an abomination..."

The warlord approached the poor, miserable creature, kneeling to his level and tilting his head up by the chin (careful of the toxin he scented at the ends of the fiery-red strands). "I will continue to look at you so long as it pleases me, Spicer," he said, his voice suddenly roughening as he shifted his own form to match his lover's in beastliness, "and it _does_ please me..."

The rest of the evening was spent proving that Chase was anything but shallow when it came to his mate's appearance and that even monstrous beasts have the capacity for passionate love-making on the hard, stone floor of a witch's lair.

_**253. Application-**_

"Well, Mr. Spicer, I've reviewed your job application, and I must say: I'm impressed."

Jack smiled gratefully. "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, you haven't had much work experience, but your actual _intelligence_ is higher than any employee I've ever _seen_, much less had working for me, and despite your inexperience, I believe you will do quite well here. Congratulations, Mr. Spicer: you're hired."

The albino's eyes lit up and he stood from his seat, excitedly shaking one of his new boss's hands with both of his own. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Young," he squealed, "you won't regret this, I promise! I'll start first thing in the morning!"

And with that, the ecstatic young man took his leave.

Chase watched him go, a quiet growl of want escaping his throat at the teasing sway of the youth's backside as he walked. Jack Spicer would go very far in this company, but Chase was certain for a few favors, he could get him to the top quicker, like...in-the-storage-closet favors, on-the-photocopier favors, and bent-over-his-desk favors.

Oh, yes, _especially_ those ones...

_**254. Guardian-**_

Jack coughed quietly, his weak, sickly body quivering with every rapid contraction of his small chest.

By the gods, he was only _six_! Why did he have to be so damned _sick_ all the time?

Moaning softly and turning on his side underneath the covers of his bed, Jack sorely wished he'd been born with better resistance to disease, because maybe then he could go outside and play like other kids did...

The bed dipped slightly at the edge as a gentle hand carded through his hair, and Jack's eyes opened to see the guardian dragon his parents had provided for him while he was left alone in this big, empty castle.

The reptile was in human form now, the handsome, elegant form that made the poor boy's chest hurt from knowing he'd _never_ be that strong or beautiful, even should he live to be 1,000 years old. "What do _you_ want, Chase?" Jack's sore throat croaked bitterly as he turned away and shut his eyes in a kind of contempt that seemed nearly obscene in a child his age.

"Foolish little boy," the dragon scoffed, "I have been bound to you as a guardian; I cannot stray from your side for very long."

The sickly youth turned half-lifeless red eyes to his protector, scathingly challenging, "Even if I don't _want_ you here?"

Golden eyes blankly looked Jack over for a long moment before Chase leaned down to gift the boy with a human gesture of affection, a kiss on the forehead, before he assured, "Even if you don't want me here. I am yours forever, little Spicer."

_**255. Publications-**_

Jack froze upon seeing one of his novels (written by him and published under a pen name for secrecy) in his lover's hand.

"Ah...Chase...what's that?" he inquired, trying to feign innocence through his nervousness.

The man looked up at him, marking his place in the book. "Merely a publication I found in your room, my love," he replied. "It is..._interesting_, to say the least."

Jack flushed lightly remembering exactly what he had written in that particular book, and prompted, "O-oh, yeah?"

Chase smirked as he answered, "Yes. I had expected it to be just a trashy pornographic novel, but the subtext and the plot are truly captivating; although, the sex scenes are very artfully written, also, very full of passion, particularly the scene in the hot spring where Ryuu and Shiro declare their undying affection for each other and make love under the stars."

Though highly embarrassed and still on edge wondering if Chase _knew_ or not, Jack nonetheless recognized the positive reaction to his work, and smiled lightly. "Yeah," he said, "I guess it's kinda okay..."

"I know you wrote this, Spicer."

The albino squeaked and tensed, but his lover came up behind him, gently rubbing his shoulders.

"Easy now, love," Chase purred, a chuckle in his voice, "relax...I had no idea you were so _kinky_, Jack, but if you'd allow me to be the Ryuu to your Shiro, I'd gladly try out a few of the things you've written in that book of yours..."

Jack shivered, relaxing against his lover as he groaned with a slight hint of need, "Oh, would you?"

Chase did _not_ need to be told twice.

_**256. Echo-**_

"You know, Chase, we were kinda like Echo and Narcissus before we started being together."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Jack said, "you were the totally gorgeous man, and I was like the lovesick nymph that followed you around even though you didn't really acknowledge me."

Chase gave a thoughtful 'hmm', realizing that he _did_ have a point, but still..."Save for one thing, Spicer..."

Red eyes blinked owlishly at this. "And what's that?" the youth wondered.

Chase tugged the albino closer, pointing out, "_I_ wasn't so blinded by my own beauty that I missed _yours_."

_**257. Television-**_

Chase wasn't all that big on watching television, but by necessity, he knew a few key things about it.

A boring show would send his lover off to dreamland within ten minutes, leaving the goth snoring lightly with his head on his elder lover's stomach. Something tragic would depress the boy, and without fail, he would soon be clinging to Chase and sobbing like a hormonal woman, and of course, a romantic flick could instantly put his Jack in the mood.

It was particularly handy for the warlord that he knew a channel that played romance movies 24/7.

Sure, Chase was effectively manipulating his lover into shutting up, coming to him for comfort, and wanting sex respectively, but he was evil: Jack probably _expected_ him to be in cahoots with TV anyways.

_**258. Invincible-**_

Magical power coursed through Chase's very veins, making him feel somewhat invincible as the archaic spell went into effect, separating himself from the soul that he had given residence to within his own.

Jack's spirit was dragged (not quite kicking and screaming) to the center of the alchemic circle, and the boy's essence gave a wordless cry as the magic worked on and through him, a blinding flash of light enveloping the room.

When both the light and smoke cleared, a freed, airy feeling took hold in the warlord's chest upon seeing Jack, _his_ Jack, lying on the floor in a half-fetal position, barely conscious.

Going quickly to his side, Chase scooped the boy up in his arms, relief flooding him as he both saw and heard the slow but steady rise and fall of the albino's chest, and there was no small measure of happiness found in the fact that Jack could _actually_ be held, now. "Jack," he coaxed the youth into partial awareness with the statement of his name, "I love you."

His tone an exhausted slur, Jack murmured back, "Love you, too..." before slipping into a blissful slumber.

Chase stood, holding the tired goth firmly against his chest as he began walking towards his bedroom.

So, his weak, little mate wanted to sleep for now: that was fine with him. At least this time, the sleep had no chance of permanence.

_**259. Amputate-**_

Chase slowly hazed back into consciousness, thoughts sluggish with what was probably anesthesia.

His legs, which had burned with a fiery pain before he had passed out, now seemed oddly numb, but since he wasn't exactly up to movement just yet, he didn't attempt to investigate.

Now, where the hell...?

"Oh, Chase, are you awake?"

The wounded soldier almost instantly recognized the voice, and his golden eyes shot open. "Spicer?"

The albino who had seemed on the battlefield to him as only a child now look to be a young man, a high-standing one at that, if the general's uniform he wore was any indication. Jack smiled good-naturedly, his red eye (the other was shaded by his white hair) glinting almost mischievously as he answered, "Yeah, it's me; but more importantly, how do _you_ feel? Physically?"

Chase blinked slowly. "Tired, I suppose," he concluded, "but I'll live."

This seemed to please the general, and he nodded in acceptation before querying, "And your legs? Any pain? How do they feel?"

"They _don't_," the soldier answered bluntly.

"Hm," Jack sighed, "well, that's to be expected, since they were too damaged and had to be amputated."

"What?!" the elder of the two gasped, eyes wide in shock.

"Hey, easy, Chase," the general soothed, "don't worry about it; lucky for you, I've been dabbling in the cybernetic body part field. I managed to hook you up with mechanical legs. They're connected to your nerve endings, so they should respond just as your natural legs did, only...you don't really have any feeling in them."

"Isn't that kind of technology untested and potentially risky?" the soldier warily inquired.

Jack gave a saturnine smile, almost bitter-looking as he rolled up his sleeve and brushed his hair aside, revealing his own cybernetic appendages while assuring, "I tested it quite thoroughly on my own body, and don't worry: I haven't run into any complications yet."

Chase blinked in surprise at the cold, steel arm and the artificially glowing red light that served as Jack's replacement eye, and then referred his gaze back to the albino's older, more defined features and imperial-looking uniform.

Eventually, he muttered, "I see we've _much_ to catch up on with each other..."

_**260. Gods-**_

Chase shoved Jack to the ground as a gunshot rang out, covering the young man with his body and getting in a good position to return fire.

"So...yeah, Chase...this probably seems a little presumptuous, but...do you wanna, maybe, I don't know, do something sometime?"

The agent would have balked at the question if not for his intensive training, and instead answered, "Now is _not_ the time for this, Mr. Spicer!" The assassin's shots were getting more frequent, more accurate, and Chase dragged the albino to his feet, tugging him by the arm as they scrambled for cover.

Upon finding said cover in a nearby crowed bazaar, specifically by a Persian rug salesman's stand, Jack smiled coyly as he realized that his bodyguard held him tightly against his broad, muscular chest in addition to something _else_...

"Are you sure now's not the time, _Mr._ Young? You seem pretty eager yourself, with your hand up my shirt and all..."

Chase fazed out of his concentration slightly to realize that, yes, his hand _was_ in the indicated place, though only barely: it was just higher than the young man's hip, intended to hold him still, and had accidentally slid under the loose black cloth of his t-shirt.

The man, uncharacteristically embarrassed, flushed the faintest of pinks and tore his hand away. "I-I apologize, sir, I...it won't happen again, I assure you. Now, be _quiet_, unless, of course, you want to _die_!"

Jack lay his hands on the man's shoulders, coaxing, "Come on, _one_ date: dinner and a movie; it'll be _fun_...!"

It was then that the assassin found them again, and his gun pointed dutifully at the albino's head.

Fortunately, through a combination of eagle eyes, perfect aim, and tiger reflexes, Chase managed to spot him and disarm him with a single shot to his hand.

_Un_fortunately, however, before the wounded hit man disappeared into the crowd, his gun had still gone off, firing a bullet that tore through Jack's calf, causing the albino to scream in pain, before collapsing to the ground, clutching his leg.

As a crowd began gathering, hovering in concern, Chase knelt to his charge's level, questioning, "Are you alright, sir?"

A bead of sweat dripped from the gunshot-victim's forehead, and as he panted through the possibly soul-rending pain, he forced a cheeky smile. "Yuh-you _s-sure_ you don't wanna go to that movie?"

The agent's jaw went slack, totally stunned before growling, "By the gods, are you _insane_?! You were _shot_, you could have been _killed_! And you're still hung up on a _date_?!"

The albino was silent for a moment, forcing down the pain before dejectedly hissing out, "So, no date, then?"

Chase gave an exasperated sigh, combing back his long, dark hair. "Will it shut you up if I do this?"

Excitement masked most of Jack's pain again, and he smiled as brightly as he was able. "Well, that depends, really," he admitted, "but I'll stop bugging you about it."

The agent sighed again before gathering the albino into his arms bridal style (careful of the leg wound). "Fine then," he conceded, "_after_ you get out of the hospital."

Jack 'squee'-ed happily despite the vicious throbbing in his leg, and began thinking of what good movies were out currently and would be out within the next month or so.

--

**A/N: Ok, so what's the scoop on this chapter?**

_**Fangirl- **_**This was actually Matt's idea, but I put my own spin on it, and it became what it is now. Oh, yeah, and that girl who stole Jack's goggles and shoved him into the pile o' doom? Despicable, truly despicable behavior, there. :realizes she's still wearing Jack's goggles and quickly hides them: o.o Um...you saw nothing!**

_**Abomination- **_**Ok, so this is basic fairy-tale premise stuff: Jack gets cursed by a witch to turn into an unidentifiable beast every night, Chase finds out and thinks it's sexy, they make sex on the floor. Classic fairy tale stuff, right? XD**

_**Application- ...**_**I don't know, I always thought it'd be kinda interesting if Chase were Jack's boss at some company or other, probably 'cause of the control he'd have over him, i.e, ":censored for dialogue too explicit for even you guys: or you're fired." "o.o OMG, ok, Mr. Young, anything you say!" "BWAHAHAHA!" ...Ignore me, please, I'm insane, sometimes.**

_**Guardian- **_**Not explicit because, obviously, Jack's still a kid, and I'm not all that big on pedophilia unless ages are close enough to be negligible, not like here, where it's probably something like 6 years old to over 100 years old, but in human years, about 20-ish. That's just a little too far for me. But, this is just fluff, so it's not meant to be sexy or something, it's meant to be cute, which I think was accomplished. :D**

_**Publications- **_**I don't know why, but the idea of Jack writing erotic novels is amusing to my brain. XD And could he **_**be**_** anymore obvious? Ryuu means 'dragon' and Shiro as a name means 'fourth son', but as a noun/adjective means 'white': think about it. Really. Come on, Jack, be creative! XD**

_**Echo- **_**Not much to say about this one, actually...**

_**Television- **_**Hm, not much to say about this one, either...**

_**Invincible-**_** Sequel to **_**Requiem, **_**because it needed one; Jack'll be okay, he's just tired and needs a nap...badly.**

_**Amputate- **_**This is a sequel to **_**M.I.A.**_** from, like, a million chapters ago, I can no longer remember which.**

_**Gods- **_**Because knowing me, I just couldn't leave **_**Witnessed**_** as it was and wrote another sequel. -.-"**

**And, that's about it, so...thanks for reading! :D**


	27. Chapter 27

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**261. Piñataman-**_

"No, don't do it, small child! Don't break the piñata horse, for it belongs to the piñataman, and if you destroy it, he will hunt you down and _crush your soul_!"

The poor birthday boy, seven years old, if the balloons in the surrounding area of the park were any indication, began crying, even as Jack was dragged away by his elder lover, Chase giving a droll, half-hearted apology to the child's mother, an apology that was mostly drowned out by the goth's furied ranting anyways.

_**262. Igor-**_

"Spicer, bring the potion to me."

Jack abruptly adopted a limp, shoulder drooping slightly as he obeyed, hissing, "Yesss, massster, the _potion_..."

Chase scowled minutely at the immaturity, pointing out, "While I do care for you, Jack, I will _not_ fuck a hunchback."

The goth teen almost immediately straightened, whining, "But Igor's _awesome_...!"

_**263. Particle Accelerator-**_

Seeing Jack intensely focused in his work, bent over a lab table as his pen scribbled calculations furiously over some blueprints, Chase gently teased Spicer for his intelligence with, "Plans for a particle accelerator?"

The albino merely sighed, running a hand through his hair as he dropped his pencil to relax his fingers before confirming, "Yeah."

_**264. Mastermind-**_

Chase growled at the encroachment, his young mastermind intellect immediately prompting him to snatch up a nearby wooden block and deftly toss it at the pink dress-wearing interloper's head.

The girl burst into tears, wailing loudly even as her attacker pulled the child she had wanted to play with up against his front, claiming, "Mine!"

"Oh, dear, poor little Kimi!" Mrs. Young exclaimed, embarrassed and ashamed of her son's rude behavior. "I'm _so_ sorry, Kuki, but Chase is in his 'terrible twos' stage, and he thinks everything is his, _especially_ that little friend he has; will your daughter be alright?"

Kuki Tohomiko smiled at her old high school friend, the two recently reunited by this mother-child activity group, and assured, "Oh, don't worry, Chi, my Kimiko is tough; besides, boys will be boys."

In the middle of the playmat, Chase stared seriously at his younger companion (who was still too young to form all but the necessary words), and reiterated, "Mine."

Large red eyes blinked up at the toddler as Jack burbled happily, snuggling up against the older boy with an unassuming smile.

_**265. Euthanasia-**_

Jack was definitely unhappy to say that his boyfriend was in an _awful_ mood.

He had already threatened three freshmen with various acts of violence, had it out with his AP Chemistry teacher, and had even nearly struck _him_ for "being such a pest", and it wasn't even 11:00 yet.

Determined to get to the bottom of the sour mood, he had finally managed to corner the senior at his locker during lunch, and so the hallways were empty enough to echo slightly as Jack demanded, "What is _wrong_ with you, Chase?!"

The elder teen blinked for a moment, looking a bit guilty before he sighed, running a hand through his long, dark hair. "I...I apologize, Jack, I..." His breath was exhaled shakily before he continued, "...Hunter had to be euthanized yesterday."

Jack gasped softly, a hand automatically going to his mouth in mild horror. Hunter had been Chase's pet for _twelve years_; Chase _loved_ that cat!

"Oh my god...what happened?"

Chase refused to look at him now, not wanting to disappoint his lover's expectations of bravery and strength, but his voice nonetheless cracked slightly as he answered, "Inoperable tumor; he wouldn't have lasted the week anyways, but...it was painless for him, this way."

Jack's heart wrenched with sympathy and he approached his boyfriend, hugging him tightly, comfortingly. Chase needed to know that the sophomore was there for him, always _would_ be there, unlike his precious Hunter who just didn't have the lifespan.

_**266. Atlantis-**_

Urchin made a low noise of apprehension as he tentatively swam through the busy streets of this unfamiliar metropolis. He _never_ should have gone exploring on his own, at least not without Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian to back him up.

Abruptly, something coiled tightly around his tail and yanked him into an alleyway, a strong hand clamping over his mouth before he could scream. As he was turned around to face the stranger, the merboy's struggling ceased as he now looked up into the brightest eyes he'd ever seen, a fiery orange color that rendered him immobile with their depth and intensity.

Framing those eyes was purple, almost neon purple, and the blonde realized that it was this strange man's hair, short and slightly spiky, providing for a powerful, 'don't mess with me' vibe. Upon allowing his tuna-blue eyes to inspect the rest of the man (and he wasn't staring, he wasn't! He just wanted to know what this guy looked like in case he had to file a police report for mugging or, Neptune forbid, _rape_), drifting lower past the broad, muscular chest to the equally as strong snake tail that was the color of the man's hair, the lengthy appendage still coiled around his own far-shorter, dusty-green fish tail.

Apparently deciding that the merboy wouldn't scream, the seasnake removed his hand from his mouth, rather gently questioning, "Who are you, young one? What's your name?"

Twiddling his thumbs awkwardly, suddenly aware of how homely he, an orphan who made his home in the abandoned shell of a (rather large) crab, must have looked talking to this...breath-takingly handsome man, Urchin's scruffy, blonde hair fell into his eyes as his head dipped a bit. "My name's Urchin..." he muttered, "I'm...kinda lost, I guess..."

The man grinned amiably at this, replying, "Well, Urchin, you're in luck; I know it seems a stretch, given the situation, but it just so happens that I am the king of this part of the sea, of Atlantis."

Well, that certainly explained why he was so damned gorgeous! Someone like him _would_ be royalty.

'I assure you, my intentions were nothing but pure in grabbing you like this, but I was simply unable to resist a chance to speak to such a lovely young thing as you. Still, since you _are_ lost, I would be happy to show you around my kingdom, and if it should come to it, you are welcome to stay in my palace until you are able to return home. I'm sure we will have time to talk amidst all that, aren't you?"

Something about the charming smile the snake gave him made the orphaned mer's heart beat faster in his chest, and as the scaly purple tail uncoiled from his, Urchin felt almost _forced_ to ask, "Who are you?"

"Thyton," came the cool reply, and entirely unaware that he was unconsciously engraving the name in his heart already, the blond smiled shyly. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Thyton."

The elder's bright, orange eyes taking in the boy's tan, slender form, the king assured, "Oh, no, little Urchin, the pleasure is most definitely mine..."

_**267. Ultimatum-**_

"You have an ultimatum, Mr. Spicer: you either drop to your knees this instant and suck my cock, or you lose this job, and I assure you, I can make it such a blemish to your career that no one will ever hire you _again_, leaving you a beggar on the streets, so destitute that you won't even be able to afford the rent of a _cardboard box_. Now," the man's sharp, golden eyes were wicked as he smirked down at the smaller male, "make your choice..."

Jack's eyes were wide as he digested the information, and after a long, quiet moment, he exhaled shakily, kneeling before his boss and undoing the man's belt.

_**268. Clone-**_

Chase had both hands on his hips as he firmly stated, "No; you will _not_ be cloning yourself, Spicer. Ever."

"But, _Chase_," the goth pleaded, "the monks keep getting stronger, and let's face facts: I'm no Rocky Balboa. And you know _them_, they'll kill me without a thought! If I have a fail-safe with a clone, whenever I get killed, my consciousness would just transfer to one of the clones; come on, Chase, I've got everything all planned out! Why won't you let me do it?"

The warlord frowned, pointing out, "Well, first of all, the world may very well end with the existence of multiple Jack Spicers; one _far_ too much as it is. Second of all," Chase then appeared to be offended that Jack had even _thought_ otherwise as he huffed, "you _won't_ die; I am _more_ than capable of protecting you."

_**269. Ask-**_

"A-aah!" Jack gasped, a hot blush on his cheeks as Chase nipped sharply at his throat, the man's hand sliding down to undo the button and zipper of his pants. "Mr. Young, _please_," the employee begged, "blowjobs are one thing, but _this_ is asking too much!"

Seeing him unconvinced, Jack remembered a picture he had seen on his boss's desk and tried, "D-don't you have a wife?"

Chase stopped, his golden gaze hot and heavy as he scoffed, "Wuya? The frigid bitch hasn't touched me in almost three years, now, and I haven't loved her for four. Tell me, Spicer," he asked, "how is it to know that the woman I married is nothing to me, and you, a newly-hired book-keeper, are everything?"

Jack didn't have long to process the thought, to think on what was being said in that sentence as he was turned and bent forwards over his employer's desk, soon feeling the larger man's body draping over his own, a mouth speaking in a hot whisper by his ear, "Now, my gorgeous young accountant, how would you like to be treated to something that would have made my wife green with envy in comparison to our honeymoon?"

Jack finally just gave in, giving his married boss an encouraging noise to continue as he enjoyed the attentions the man saw fit to give him.

_**270. Hydra-**_

Chase made a low noise of annoyance as the nearly sonic-pitched screeching continued, and he was even further put out by the fact that nothing but delighted giggling was being done about it.

"Will you get _rid_ of that thing, Spicer?!" he finally demanded, causing Jack to hold the three-headed creature protectively against his chest.

"No," the goth whined, petting the reptile's scales soothingly, "it took me a _long_ time to genetically engineer a miniature hydra, and nothing you say will make me get rid of my Francis!...es."

The creature shrieked again, this time from all three heads, and Chase got the feeling that the Advil company would soon become rich from the future-contributions of a certain 1,500-year-old immortal dragon warlord.

--

**A/N: **

_**Piñataman- ...**_**Um...this would be the insanity talking, again, please excuse it. o.o"**

_**Igor- **_**I've always loved Igor for some random reason, and I've recently begun drawing cartoony pictures of him in my school notebooks in various outfits, like in a dress, cowboy getup, fancy suit, top hat, and monocle, etc. etc. XD It keeps me busy, I guess, but it probably indicates deep mental problems...ah, well, nevermind! :D**

_**Particle Accelerator- **_**Ok, I've blatantly stolen another joke from a show called Static Shock, which, if you haven't heard of it, I like to describe as 'the average 'teenagers get super powers' premise, but in the ghetto and with gangs'. XD Really, though, I've been getting reinterested in that show, because of the main reason things interest me these days: Danny Cooksey (Jack Spicer's voice actor) and Jason Marsden(Chase Young's voice actor). Basically, I think it's awesome, because it's almost a complete role reversal of the two: Cooksey plays a character that's all evil and badass and has major anger issues and enjoys hurting people, and Marsden's character plays a nerd, and then later on the same nerd only as a super-genius now (who is pretty much into all things technologic), who makes bad jokes/puns, is socially-awkward, and he's a coward. It's such a weird coincidence, that I almost instantly fell in love with it all over again, and I think I know why: think about Chase being on the bottom. Doesn't it just make you smile inside? XD**

_**Mastermind- **_**Not much to say, here, I thought it was cute, though.**

_**Euthanasia- **_**Another high-school setting, and I figured not-high-school-Chase would be pretty crushed if one of his cats died, but since they kinda can't it'd never happen; this was just my way of exploring the 'what if' of it.**

_**Atlantis- **_**Ok, now I **_**know**_** this doesn't seem like chack in any form, but if anyone's ever seen the "Little Mermaid" cartoon on Disney channel, there was a character voiced by Danny Cooksey, and his name was Urchin; Jason Marsden never had a role in that particular show to my knowledge, but it can't hurt to invent him one, right? :D I couldn't resist, really, 'cause Urchin's so damnably cute in that show that it should be a crime.**

_**Ultimatum- **_**This would be a continuation to **_**Application, **_**and Chase has finally made his move on the poor n00b in the workplace, and he has used his power to get what he wants. XD**

_**Clone-**_** I think Jack wanting to clone himself in case of death **_**would**_** be somewhat offensive to Chase, because he would probably see it as a threat to his ability in keeping Jack from dying in the first place, so...yeah.**

_**Ask- **_**A continuation to the continuation of **_**Application**_**, because I think the thought of Chase not getting any for a multitude of years amuses me; probably not Jack, though, 'cause it looks like he's going to be the outlet for all that pent-up lust. /sing-songy/ I know someone who's going to be sore in the morning! XD**

_**Hydra- **_**I really want Francis...es, as in more than one Francis, but I think Jack wouldn't mind the screeching if he could have a scaly little pet whose heads grow back if they get cut off. XD I'm totally serious, I would take Francises if they were real, but sadly, they are not. ;.; Oh, and also, I named them Francis because I was thinking of Static Shock again, and Cooksey's character is named 'Francis'. XD**

**But anyways...**

**THE END (of the chapter, not the whole fic)**

**Hope you enjoyed! :D**


	28. Chapter 28

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**271. Gunslinger-**_

Rai choked slightly as his wind pipe was crushed, the cold metal of a gun pressed up against his stomach, and he nervously laughed, "H-hey, step off, _esse_; I can't breathe."

The forearm only exerted more force, and the deceptively calm reply came, "Oh, I don't think I will; after all, you didn't offer the same courtesy to my Jack when you had him in this same position the other day, did you?"

A recent memory flashed in the teen's head, one of the situation he was in now reversed, but instead of this man at his mercy, in the man's place was a boy, about his own age, really pale and wearing all black.

The kid's attire, however, now seemed to catch his attention, and Rai remembered that he had been wearing a leather jacket, and on the right sleeve had been an illustration of a dark green Chinese dragon crushing a human skull within its jaw, the insignia, he abruptly realized, of the infamous Heylin gang.

_Oh, shit..._

The trigger of the gun was pulled, the bullet tearing through Raimundo's stomach and forcing an agonized scream from his throat, even as the butt of the gun cracked against his skull, sending him to the ground of the dingy alleyway.

The man's golden eyes _burned_ with rage as he sneered down at the wounded teen. "There will be no courtesies where _you're_ going."

The gun fired once more, the bullet splattering brain-matter over the pavement with practiced ease before Chase's arm lowered and a growl escaped his throat at the still-unsatisfied feeling deep in his chest.

He should have killed the punk slower. _Much_ slower.

Nonetheless, it would have to do, as his business here was finished, and he turned coldly and stalked out of the alley to attend to even more important matters.

Not twenty minutes later saw the man in a hospital room, an indiscernible expression on his face as he stare down at his lover, still in a semi-coma from the amount of blood he'd lost, and Chase couldn't help but reflect on how _weak_ the boy looked, divested of his usual attire of black leather and spiked collars and bracelets and hooked up to beeping life-support machines.

He couldn't imagine how scared the poor kid must have been when he was cornered and mugged two nights ago, how frightening it must have been to have the muzzle of a gun pressed against his stomach and to know he was totally alone, that no one could come for him in time to save him, but he _could_ imagine the relief Jack would feel in knowing that his attacker would _never_ bother him again.

Chase would take great pleasure in telling the albino that his big, bad lover had handled it for him when he regained consciousness in another day or two.

_**272. Photogenic-**_

Chase was _not_ photogenic.

Every year his mother bitched the teen out after picture day, demanding to know why he always scowled or looked away from the camera just as the picture was taken.

He was prepared for no less than the same this year, and was already set to handle the woman's rant when he got home, even as the photographer was making sure her camera was ready to take the picture.

Just as the female's mouth began forming the word, "cheese," her finger just _barely_ depressing the button of the camera, a soft kiss, hardly a peck, was pressed to the dark-haired teen's lips, his goth boyfriend only just managing to remove himself from the shot before the flash went off.

Later that night, Chase's mother was gushing over his picture, mindlessly simpering that his smile was _so_ beautiful when he really meant it.

Smirking internally, Chase realized he'd have to thank Jack for sparing him the tired, old rant.

_**273. Twisted Transistor-**_

"Hey, you hooligans, could you turn it down?! We're _trying_ to have a sprinkler party for my precious baby daughter over here!"

Chase and Jack made a spectacular team just then, the goth (a rather dangerous thing to be in such a summer as it was) turning the dial of the stereo blasting "Twisted Transistor" by Korn even higher, his aloof boyfriend, maybe only three or four years his elder, elegantly flipping the soccer mom the bird.

_**274. Suspension-**_

"Ok, sir, the problem was with the suspension, and I'll spare you the details, but I've handled it for you." The albino lightly patted the hood of the dark green sports car with a sense of pride. "She'll be running just fine, now."

Chase inspected the young man before him, eyeing the oil stains on both his clothes and his pale skin. Taking note of the mechanic's name tag, he prompted, "Quite the grease monkey, aren't you, Spicer? It's been less than thirty minutes since I brought it in."

The young man blushed sheepishly with a smile, the reddish color causing a spectacular contrast with the blackness of the oil smudges on his face and the snow-whiteness of his skin as he answered, "Aw, call me Jack, and machines are just my thing, I guess."

Chase 'hm'-ed thoughtfully. "Right. Then, tell me, Jack, how would you feel about going to dinner with me sometime, to thank you for your swiftness in repairing my car?"

Jack raised a suspicious eyebrow. "You're not just trying to get out of paying for the repairs, are you?"

Chase laughed, honestly amused as he assured, "No, just dinner."

Jack's red eyes brightened and a smile lit his face as he grabbed a nearby dirty rag, wiping the grime from his hands while he confidently dictated, "I'm off work tomorrow night; you can pick me up from here at eight-thirty. See you then!"

And with a suggestive wink, the albino disappeared into the back of the auto shop as another employee walked in to handle matters of payment for the work done.

Chase didn't know this Jack on a personal level just yet, but he knew one thing already: the young mechanic had a way of knowing how to rotate his tires, so to speak.

_**275. Introduce-**_

"Allow me to introduce Geoffrey and Madelyn Spicer, and their son Jack."

As the adults talked with each other, having just been introduced by a mutual friend, Jack turned to the other couple's son, greeting, "Hi, I'm Jack; what's your name?"

The older boy automatically went to sneer at the kid and then ignore him, but upon making eye contact, the teen found himself unable to do so, unable to look away from the ensnaring, honey-sweet red gaze, and he almost hesitantly answered, "Chase."

The boy smiled brightly, hugging him childishly around the middle. "How long are you gonna stay around here? I don't get too many visitors all the way out here in the mountains, you know..."

At the loneliness in the boy's tone, Chase replied, "Well, we were only planning on a day or two, but...I think we might be able to stay about a week."

His parents were so pathetically afraid of him, and if Chase so desired, they would easily allow him _at least_ a week.

Maybe that would be enough time to figure out why this kid's eyes made his heart beat faster and his breath feel short with their shining innocence.

_**276. Adorkable-**_

Chase _refused_, point-blank, to label his Jack by a cutesy nickname like, 'honey' or 'darling', and _especially_ denied the use of the adjective 'adorkable' in description of him, despite the goth's insistence that it fit him perfectly

Surprisingly enough, though, Jack had been understanding of it, shrugging it off as 'being too cool to use colloquial speech like a normal person.'

_**277. Gauntlet-**_

Chase was glad for his lover's insistence on wearing that leather gauntlet of his all the time, if only for the fact that it put things in perspective.

During love-making, seeing the dark brown material in place of paper-white flesh helped Chase remember not to be too rough with that arm, because without the glove, the white of the bleached bone would blend seamlessly with the young man's pale skin in his lust-clouded mind, and should he forget himself and snap his lover's forearm, it would require a great deal of magic to repair it.

Though Mozenrath could probably do it himself, he would most assuredly force Chase to repair it and then stave off sex for as long as a week, and Chase was _not_ in favor of pissing his prima donna off to such an extent.

_**278. Trigger-**_

"Hey, Chase, guess what?"

The dragon hissed, sorely tempted to reach for the duct tape on the bedside table as he demanded, _"What?"_

"Okay, well, my friend from my high school math team, Matt, told me this awesome joke today: how does Omi greet his sister who goes after Shen Gong Wu but isn't a Xiaolin monk?"

"Omi is an only child," Chase deadpanned.

"Pretend he's not for the sake of the joke! Do you give up?"

The warlord sighed. "Yes, I surrender; what's the answer?"

Jack smiled dorkishly as he replied, " 'Hey, Lin!' "

This nearly instantly triggered Chase to smack the albino upside the head, demanding, "You absolute _insect_! You woke me for _that_?!"

_**279. Migrates-**_

Chase gave a displeased mewling noise as his mate moved a little away from him, curling his paw into the avian creature's feathers as if to stop him from leaving.

Jack bent his long neck lower to allow the alley-cat to lick at his dark beak affectionately before he nuzzled against the feline's dark green fur.

It was the way of his species, the Canadian goose, to migrate back home at this time of year, meaning he would have to leave his new found mate here in the United States.

Thankfully, though, with the way the weather was acting up, it wouldn't be _too_ long before he'd have to migrate again, and he could once more be reunited with the handsome, proud creature he had fallen so deeply for.

_**280. Iceberg-**_

"Chase, you're like an iceberg, you know? Like you're this grand, magical thing that's even bigger under the surface, very little given away and so much concealed, like an amazing mystery."

"And you're a moron, Spicer."

Jack visibly deflated at the statement, pouting as he deadpanned, "Wow. Thanks, Chase...ya' jerk..."

The warlord deftly tugged the albino closer by the waist, clarifying, "_My_ moron, Jack."

--

**A/N:**

_**Gunslinger-**_** A continuation from **_**long**_** ago, like Chapter 7. The prompt was **_**Guns**_**, and it was really short, so I think it went largely unnoticed. "Can't have that, now can we?" I decided, and so wrote up **_**Gunslinger**_**. I have nothing against Raimundo, really, but Clay and Kim aren't the mugger-types, there's no **_**way**_** Omi is, and it couldn't have been anyone on the Heylin side, because Chase wouldn't allow that; people would fear for their lives if they even **_**thought**_** about offing Jack while they were in Chase's gang, so Rai just happened to be the unlucky victim; if you want to justify it, he's mugging people so he can pay for a family member's operation or something, w/e. If you **_**don't **_**want to justify it, then he's mugging people for fun and he deserved death. But, that's your choice in judgement, not mine.**

_**Photogenic-**_** Idk, I thought it was a kinda cute idea, so...I wrote it. If anyone could make brooding-teenager!Chase smile, it'd be emo-teenager!Jack. XD**

_**Twisted Transistor-**_** I love this song a lot (less-than-3), and yes, it's another teenager-kinda one. Also, soccer moms annoy me. They really do. This one just got what was coming. XD**

_**Suspension-**_** Tee-hee, Jack's your average greasemonkey in an autoshop; this amuses me. XD And I also formally apologize for the lame innuendo, 'rotate his tires'. It was wrong of me, truly.**

_**Introduce-**_** Meh, idk, I don't really like this one all that much, but I guess kid!Jack would be cute clinging to tween!Chase. I can sorta imagine them just hanging out some place, Jack just becoming cellophane on Chase's leg, people start staring and then Chase, like, kills their families or something. XD He **_**would**_** do that, too, wouldn't he? Naughty Chase! :wags finger disparagingly:**

_**Adorkable-**_** This is my favorite word to use in the description of Jack, probably because he is. X3 But yeah, I figure Chase is above pet-names (except 'rabbit' or 'Jack-rabbit' when its convenient for me XD) because he's all high and mighty and whatever, and it'd be demeaning to use such foolish terms.**

_**Gauntlet-**_** Another one based off of my Shifting Sands fic, where (in case you haven't read it/don't want to) Jack becomes Mozenrath when he gets older; Mozenrath has a hand made of only bone. That's all you really need to know.**

_**Trigger-**_** Matt actually **_**did**_** tell me this joke, and I very** **nearly killed him for being so unapologetically stupid. It's another in the, as ScathingSarcasm referred to it, "Chase's Torture by Sleep Deprivation Saga", and I, of course, couldn't resist the reference to **_**Tape**_** from Chapter 23. ;)**

_**Migrates**_**- ...Geese need love, too! And random abandoned cats. Seriously, I couldn't resist, because I love geese like crazy, and every time I see one, it makes me happy inside. :D So, this came about.**

_**Iceberg-**_** I was briefly tempted to do another Titanic reference, but then the idea for this came into my head, and I was like, "Oh, well, this one's better; I'm gonna write it." And I did, so there it is.**

**And that's about all; I hope you liked the chapter! :D**


	29. Chapter 29

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**281. Neural-**_

"And what is this contraption of yours again, Spicer?"

The goth genius grinned proudly, hand running over the cool metal of his newest invention as he explained, "It's a neural transmitter! Every human's brain resonates on the same neural frequency, and my transmitter is basically designed to fire off a pitch on that frequency, thus interrupting brain waves and causing anyone within a five mile radius to be knocked out cold."

This was soon demonstrated as Jack's hand slipped, activating the machine and within the space of a second, the albino was unconscious and snoring on the floor.

Chase, whose brain worked on a different frequency due to the influence of his inner-dragon, sighed in exasperation, shutting off the neural transmitter and gathering up his klutz of a mate.

_**282. Revolution-**_

"We cannot take this subservience any longer! Britain does _not_ own us, does not have _any_ power over us! We are a nation in our own right, now, and if those fools refuse to acknowledge it, then so be it! We will _fight_ for our freedom!"

Furious applause and cheering took the room, and Jack sighed like a lovesick woman. Looking at the passionate, brilliant man at the podium, his fiery golden eyes and his long, glossy black hair tied at the nape of his neck, the young blacksmith's apprentice decided his stance then and there.

If it was Chase leading this revolution, he would gladly follow the man straight into hell in freedom's name.

_**283. Wiener-**_

Jack's habit of eating hot dogs without a bun was beginning to get to Chase, and finally, when the goth looked up at him, one hand holding the base of the frankfurter and the rest of it in his mouth as he questioned around the meat, "You want a wiener?" Chase was simply unable to resist growling out an affirmative before tackling the albino to the floor.

_**284. Mines-**_

"Agh, dammit!" Jack cursed, kicking his computer in frustration. "Stupid mines keep killing me!"

Chase chuckled from across the room, lounging on the sofa as he turned another page in his book. "You never _were_ gifted at strategy, Spicer," he spoke, "so why waste your time playing Minesweeper when you are bound to lose? If you want to put your talents to use at a computer game, play something like Myst."

"...shut up, Chase," the teen grumbled, "...you and your damn _logic_..."

_**285. Emulation-**_

Chase was fully aware that Jack's Spicer's emulation of him was just that: emulation, and nothing more, despite its eccentric nature.

Of course, thought the immortal warlord, that didn't necessarily mean it had to _stay_ that way...

_**286. Course-**_

Jack grumbled in annoyance as he looked down at his schedule with distaste.

How _impossibly_ unlucky did he have to be to have been defaulted into a double-block of BM/CE class, AKA Business Management/Consumer Education?

_No one_ wanted _that_ course!

"How unlucky are _you_, Chase?!" Wuya cackled at her companion, peaking Jack's interest from across the room, "Business Mangement/Consumer Education _and_ a double-block? You poor bastard!"

Chase himself looked rather disinterested in the woman's taunts, merely staring off into space with an expression of displeasure on his handsome face.

An eyebrow automatically arching at the realization of the new prospect, Jack decided that he changed his mind.

How _impossibly_ lucky did he have to be to have been defaulted into a double-block of BM/CE with his long-time crush, Chase Young?

_**287. Advantageous-**_

"w00t! I won!"

"It wasn't a fair game!" Chase snarled, sure of Jack's means to his advantageous position in the game, "You _must_ have cheated!"

"Nope," the goth assured proudly, "I _never_ cheat at this game; I beat you fair and square! Now," the goth smirked up at his older lover, himself fully-clothed and the warlord in only his undergarments, as he demanded, "off with the panties, babe."

Grinning lewdly at Chase as he (_very_) reluctantly complied with the conditions of their love game, that the rules of the card game absolutely _must_ be adhered to, Jack reflected on how lucky he was that Chase _sucked_ at strip go-fish.

_**288. Cancellation-**_

"This is...most disconcerting."

Chase nodded in agreement, muttering, "I _knew_ it was coming, but I never expected it to come in the midst of filming an episode."

"Well," Jack began, pulling himself out from under a destroyed pile of Jack-bots, dusting himself off before standing over by Chase and Omi, "there is _one_ good thing about getting cancelled..."

"And what's that?" the two questioned simultaneously, several other main characters looking on with interest.

"We don't have to be kid-friendly anymore."

There was silence for a moment before Omi exclaimed, "It's about goddamn, fuckin' time!" Kimiko tore off her pig-tailed wig, revealing a flattened mohawk, black with green streaks, which she promptly ruffled back to life before quickly slipping on a black leather jacket and a baggy pair of bondage pants, completing the look with thickly-applied eyeliner, black lipstick, and a spiked collar.

Raimundo immediately smoothed down his hair, removing his t-shirt to leave him in a long-sleeved, button-up shirt and sweater-vest, then pulling a pair of bifocals from his pocket and putting them on.

Clay, sadly, was absent today from filming in favor of knitting his sick boyfriend a sweater.

Jack and Chase, by now, were too overwhelmed by pent-up passion and were swapping spit like nobody's business, appearing as if they were trying to devour each other in the throes of repressed affection.

So, obviously, then, nobody realized that the camera was still rolling...

Some months later, the footage was discovered, and Xiaolin Showdown was picked up by Comedy Central (thus dropping Drawn Together reruns) on the condition that it was filmed as Xiaolin Showdown: The _Real_ Story.

On the day of the series premiere, over one thousand fangirls were hospitalized for joy-seizures.

_**289. Scripts-**_

"Yes, milady, we are here to...okay, I'm sorry, I forgot my line again, could someone check the script for me?"

The other actors groaned in exasperation, and the 'princess', whose real name was Wuya, if Jack remembered correctly, demanded, "Why can't you get your lines right, you moron?!"

Jack whined in apology, "I'm sorry, but can you blame me? Chase is playing the prince, and have you _seen_ his ass in tights? It's a _nice_ ass!"

Chase facepalmed at his 'squire', his hand luckily concealing his embarrassed blush.

_**290. Chainsaw-**_

Jack jolted awake with a cry of fright, his body quivering as the imagined sound from his dreams continued to echo in his ears, not helped by the dim realization of an enclosed space, a coffin.

Just as he nearly had an nervous breakdown, a strong arm pulled him back down against the soft cushioning of the casket, and he belatedly recalled that this was his lover's coffin, not his.

The elder creature, feeling the tremors in the albino's body, allowed his hand to slip down to the younger's belly, his finger stroking firmly over the long diagonal stitch there, the only thing holding Jack's torso together.

The goth's muscles relaxed nearly instantly at the touch, a soft moan escaping him as well; the vampire _knew_ how calming it was to him to be touched there!

Chase's deep, commanding voice quieted, "Easy, lover, it was only a dream."

He knew well enough, too, about the sound that would forever haunt the boy's nightmares as he added, "There will be no more chainsaws coming for you, not with me here to protect you."

The reanimated corpse against Chase's body sighed and relaxed, easily falling back into sleep at his beloved's reassurances.

--

**A/N:** _**Neural-**_** I figured I never really incorporate Jack's clumsiness/idiocy into this enough, so I decided it was about time I did. ;) He totally **_**would**_** knock himself out with a neural transmitter, wouldn't he? XD**

_**Revolution- **_**American revolution!chack, basically, not much else to say about this, though. **

_**Wiener-**_** XD That's my statement about this one: XD**

_**Mines-**_** I think Jack'd be** **better at interpreting clues and stuff like that, mainly for one, in-show moment:**

_**Omi: The jig is down, you're at the top of your rope, spoon over the wu!  
Jack: Hmmmmm...I know! The jig is up, you're at the end of your rope, fork over the wu! (Flashes Super Genius badge)**_

**XD Moving on, though!**

_**Emulation-**_** For once, Jack actually **_**does**_** only idolize Chase. XD But, if the everlord we know and love gets his way, that won't be the only thing for very long... ;D**

_**Course- **_**Wuya laughs at Chase's internal pain, which is like internal bleeding, only with pain. XD And meanwhile, Jack is wallowing in his internal happiness, which is like internal bleeding, only with happiness. XD (RECYCLED JOKE ALERT) Oh, and also BM, in addition to Business Management, could also be Bowel Movement, clueing people in to the fact that the class is shitty. XD**

_**Advantageous- **_**Gawd, how bad do you have to suck to lose, as a 1,500 year-old warlord against a seventeen-year-old dork, at go-fish? And **_**strip**_** go-fish at that! Perchance card games are not Chase's strong...**_**suit.**_** Ha, get it?! Strong **_**suit**_**, and they're playing cards! XD ...I apologize for that, it was a **_**really**_** bad joke, and I didn't even have Matt's influence or anything! I am ashamed. u.u**

_**Cancellation-**_** ...I **_**wish**_** that would happen. I wouldn't even allow myself to be taken to the hospital for my joy-seizure, 'cause then I'd miss the rest of the episode. XD Really, though, doesn't the combined thought of Rai being a nerd, Kimiko being a punk, Clay being a feminine homosexual, Chase and Jack as passionate lovers, and Omi as a foul-mouthed little jerk make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? :D**

_**Scripts**_**- Of, course, another one of those 'only-Jack' moments, here in the high school play, and Chase is being uncharacteristically embarrassed! :D Yay, prudish!Chase! XD**

_**Chainsaw-**_** Contunation of way back when in Chapter 12 when I wrote **_**Tomb**_**, and I was bored, so...I decided to go back to it; poor Jackie still has nightmares about his homicide. ;.; Oh, well, vampy!Chase is there to make it better! ;D**

**And that's the end of my author's notes; I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D**


	30. Chapter 30

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**291. Enormous-**_

Wuya was unable to move, could not even feel most of her body anymore.

How the _hell_ had _Jack Spicer_ managed to best her to the point of near-death?

But still, it was a moot point now, as the witch was perhaps a mere minute away from dying, and without her powers, it would be permanent this time.

The goth standing above her took the moment to taunt, "You thought you could have him, ya' bitch? No chance; he's _mine_." As the woman inhaled what would prove to be her last breath, he assured with a sharp, hurtful grin, "Oh, and before you go, since you'll never find out for yourself, it's _enormous_."

_**292. Bondage-**_

Somehow, Chase's touches always felt more special, more intense when Jack's hands were bound, knowing that he was completely at the other, _much_ stronger, man's mercy, and yet he was never once hurt.

_**293. Underdressed-**_

Jack flushed deeply, knowing full well how this looked: he was pinned underneath Chase on the floor, his clothing nearly completely removed save for his jeans (which were unbuttoned and unzipped anyways), and the monks were staring in open-mouthed disbelief.

Seeing that no one on the Xiaolin side was moving to break the silence and that Chase was merely staring disinterestedly at the interlopers, waiting to be addressed before he would speak of his own volition, the goth felt compelled to cough, laughing nervously as he posed, "Well, ha, ha..._I_ feel underdressed for the occasion..."

_**294. Unsuitable-**_

Chase paused in his casual walk down the street upon seeing a figure in ratty black clothes, unsuitable for the freezing weather, leaning up against a wall in a sitting position.

He had seen homeless people before: it was a common sight in this city. But this one? He couldn't be any older than fifteen!

Stopping in front of him, the CEO prompted, "What are you doing out here? Why aren't you at home, boy?"

Lifeless red eyes looked up at him and nearly-blue lips formed the words, "I don't _have_ a home. Not anymore."

Chase frowned at the answer, demanding of the poor, miserable-looking teen, "What's your name?"

Startled by the question (_nobody_ cared about homeless people, right?), he nonetheless answered, "It's Jack..."

The elder seized the teen by the arm, dragging him roughly to his feet. "You will live with me, now; I'll hear no protests from you."

Jack, for his part, was highly against protesting: he was cold, tired, hungry, and in the past month, he had done some things he wasn't particularly proud of just to get by.

Frankly, he'd rather take his chances with this stranger than to be on the cold, unforgiving streets for one more day.

_**295. Sex-Ed-**_

"Nymphomaniacal ball of fluff; you're running me _ragged_."

Jack giggled coyly at the breathless statement, and he rolled over onto his side to face his lover. "Did you miss a day of sex-ed, Chase?" he wondered. "You should know by now that us rabbit-morphs have the highest sex drives, and with the touch of hypersexuality _I_ was born with, it takes a _lot_ to satisfy me. You should be proud that _you_ can when even my own _species_ falls down on the job!"

Chase huffed, his black and dark green-striped tail twitching in annoyance. "Yes, but close to ten times a _day_?"

Jack grinned cheekily, one long ear drooping forward slightly as he asked the rhetorical question, "Is it _my_ fault you're such a sexy tiger?"

The big cat growled low in his chest, hauling the rabbit closer with one arm before laying his body heavily over the younger's as he stated, "I am not in the state of mind for witty banter: you have exhausted me. Now, listen, you promiscuous little whore, if I wake tomorrow to find you gone, I shall be most displeased."

"Promiscuous?" Jack echoed, "Not anymore! Why would I stray when the only man who can really please me is right here? I'm staying with you as long as you want me!"

Chase's clawed hand smoothed back his lover's fluffy, white ears, assuring, even as his golden eyes drooped tiredly closed, "That will be forever, then, my rabbit..."

_**296. Colon-**_

"Okay, look, Chase, you _can't_ just keep on drinking that soup of yours; there's no way it's good for your colon! Your body needs other nutrients, you know!"

"...Jack...do you remember that talk we had about what you learn in health class _staying_ in health class? Though the concern is appreciated, what applies to the 'average adult male's body' does not apply to mine. Next, you'll be lecturing me on calorie intake!"

"Well, now that you mention it..."

_**297. Womb-**_

A soft trilling noise filled the air as the proud mother(s) bent her head(s) to nuzzle against the tiny creatures that had just left her womb. She was briefly aware of a pure-white hand near her and her children, but she was not frightened into becoming protective of her young.

The being who owned the hand had always been so kind to her, and she knew he would do nothing to harm her or her babies in their weakened state. The other being in the room, however, she had most certainly felt animosity from, but so far, the white one had never allowed the black-heart to do her any injury, and so though she was still wary of him, she now paid him no mind as her tender little babies began crying for her attention.

"Aren't they precious, Chase?"

She always _had_ loved the soothing quality of the white one's voice, and her children now did, too; she felt a sense of pride in knowing that her third offspring (the last of the small litter) had been born with his coloring.

"How did it give birth? There was no opposite gender, and it was _supposed_ to be male."

Somehow, the black-heart's voice, too, was soft and somewhat pleasant now to the new mother's (or mothers') ears, and for the first time, she sensed no anger from him, whereas it normally hovered like a faint aura around him, the constant hint of hate he usually carried gone.

"I guess I miscalculated on the chromosomes and Francises were actually Francescas this whole time. The species probably reproduces asexually; I could do some tests later to make sure and then spay her so we don't get a million baby hydras overrunning the place."

Francesca(s) felt golden eyes roaming over her little ones, her first born (male, with bright yellow scales and dark green eyes), then to her second-born (the only female, blue eyes and black scales), before they finally settled upon her last-born, the male runt of the litter with white scales and reddish-pink eyes curled up and half-asleep against the side of her belly.

"...Spicer...Jack?"

"Yeah, Chase?"

"...Do you think Francesca will allow me to hold that one?"

_**298. Intact-**_

As an explosion rattled the hospital, people screaming in shocked terror, Chase panted windedly from outside, Jack cradled safely in his arms, before questioning, "Are you intact, Mr. Spicer?"

"Are we still on for next week?"

The agent groaned internally; if he could say one thing about this kid, it was that when he had his sights on something, he was _persistent_. "Yes," he huffed, "for the last time."

The albino grinned brightly as he assured, "Then, I'm fine! You know, you must have _good_ legs to have gotten us out of there so quick. What are the chances of chances of having them around my waist by next week?"

Chase gave him a flat look as he answered, "First off, I believe the rule is 'third date', Jack. Second of all, I will _never_ be your bottom."

_**299. Natives-**_

Jack was sure Chase hadn't known that he'd be committing the both of them to marriage when he'd smacked him out of annoyance on the primitively-cultured island, but the goth found it heart-warming that the man never took up the argument with the natives otherwise.

_**300. Spontaneous Combustion-**_

"Ooh, those damn monks keep humiliating me!"

"You don't need _that_ much help to look stupid, you know," Chase quipped casually from across the room.

The goth, however, ranted on as if he hadn't even heard his lover's statement, "I swear to god, one of these days, I'll figure out how to induce spontaneous combustion, and _then_ they'll be sorry!"

The warlord was silent for a moment before he slowly began, "I'm willing to bet on a disturbing, traumatic upbringing in the Spicer household for justifying not-so-spontaneous combustion with _tripping you_."

"My indignity will not go unpunished, damn you! Their uppance will come!"

--

**A/N:** _**Enormous-**_** Jack wouldn't let some old hag move in on his man, would he? Nope, I thought not! :D If Jack'd kill for any reason, it'd be to keep Chase, so he reached down deep inside himself and found a machete with which to stake his claim. XD**

_**Bondage- **_**...Chase makes tender lovin' to his Jack, even when he's all tied up. XD**

_**Underdressed-**_** Awkward moments are fun! :D Yay, awkward!**

_**Unsuitable-**_** I've always wondered what would happen if, in a real-world Xiaolin Showdown setting, Jack got kicked out on the streets for coming out to his parents or something just as frivolous; turns out, Chase takes him in. Big surprise that I came up with that one, eh? XD**

_**Sex-Ed-**_** This time, Jack actually **_**is**_** a rabbit, and his body keeps telling him to make bunny-babies, but his body didn't count on him being gay, so nothing really comes of it but an exhausted tiger mate. XD Idk, I thought this was cute, so w/e.**

_**Colon- **_**...Nocomment. o.o**

_**Womb- **_**This is really fluffy, even for me, I think. But, I had to do it: Francises, I mean, Francescas needed to have babies, for they are cute! XD I made it sort of like Chase and Jack are having a family moment, and Chase has a soft spot for albinos, I think, so he likes the runt of the litter best. :3**

_**Intact-**_** I had to, I totally had to, you all saw it coming! Another continuation to **_**Gods**_**, because the terrorists still won't leave him alone, even in the hospital, and Chase needs to school his charge on who's seme and who's uke. XD**

_**Natives**_**- Accidental marriage has always been amusing to me, so I had to try the idea out, and I think it came out rather nicely. :)**

_**Spontaneous Combustion-**_** What else would Jack wish upon his enemies but spontaneous combustion? A horrifying, painful, sudden death had by all (except Jack, who watches and laughs maniacally, XD)!**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! :D**


	31. Chapter 31

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**301. Stage-**_

Every showdown was the stage, all others present the audience for Chase Young's beautiful performance, his flawless act as he gave the perfect illusion of hate and distaste, but there was only one who knew how he truly felt, behind the mask and backstage.

The sound of his Jack's moans were music to his ears as he held the goth to the wall, laying hot, biting kisses along his throat. His words came in breathless, apologetic pants as he atoned for the day's charade, "I love you, my rabbit; I didn't mean a word I spoke of you today, you know that, don't you?"

Though he knew he would never get a different response, a thrill of relief always took Chase upon hearing, "I know, baby, I know; just stop messing around and fuck me already!"

_**302. Toaster-**_

"What do you put in a toaster, Chase?"

"Toast."

"Ha!" Jack exclaimed triumphantly, "Wrong! You put _bread_ in a toaster and it _becomes_ toast!"

The warlord growled in mild self-loathing at having been duped by such a juvenile trick.

_**303. Possum-**_

"Score!" the goth crowed. "Guess who beat your sorry asses and won the Showdown? Damn straight, Jack Spicer, evil boy genius! Now, let's see what this baby can do: Staff of Ka-Zan!"

The reddish-colored wood of the Shen Gong Wu glowed the color of fire before sending a blast outwards at a civilian tree.

At first, it seemed as if nothing was going to happen, but the poor, defenseless elm soon ignited in a veritable explosion of flames, the inferno reaching just shy of twenty feet high at its apex before it snuffed itself out, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes on a patch of burnt, blackened ground.

Everyone gaped at the damage done, eyes wide and jaws dropped before their attention was called by the excited crow of, "Awesome possum! This is like, the best Wu I've ever won (except maybe the Monkey Staff)! In your _face_, Xiaolin losers!"

And with an evil cackle, Jack took his leave.

Upon arriving back home, he noted the eerie silence and hesitantly called out, "Chase? Are you here?"

His question was answered as he was slammed up against a wall and kissed fiercely, dominantly, forcing a startled squeak from the goth's throat before Chase tore himself away from the kiss, fixing him with a burning, lustful stare.

"Chase," Jack panted breathlessly, "wh-"

"It was an oddity to find myself attracted to you, Spicer," the dragon lord informed, "when for centuries I had accepted no less than the best of warriors. You are weak, helpless, and more often than not, your 'genius' intellect fails you, making you appear nothing more than a moronic nitwit."

"...are you going somewhere with this?"

"You've broken your usual cycle, _Jack_," the warlord pointed out, emphasizing the albino's name in a heated tone, "you won a Showdown, and by transition, one of the deadliest Shen Gong Wu created."

Just as Jack was about to ask what that had to do with the older male's odd behavior, Chase purringly growled, "I _love_ to dominate power..."

And the time for conversing was most _definitely_ over.

_**304. Shoulders-**_

Chase often acted callous and uncaring whenever he complained of being in pain after getting kicked around by the monks, but Jack knew his lover was really a softie for him deep down.

Why else would he have massaged his shoulders one night once he believed the goth asleep after he had whined of soreness there earlier?

_**305. Lick-**_

Kovu was..._upset_, for lack of a better word.

Nuka was dead, Zira _hated_ him for betraying her, and he had been banished from Simba's kingdom, that little bitch, Kiara, having done nothing to prevent it.

How _could_ she? He had...really started to fall for her, too...

A warm tongue stroked over his cheek, brushing against the scar over his eye, and Kovu's attention was called to the young lion before him, barely out of cubhood.

This creature had stood by him, even when his own father had banished the older lion, so strong was Zumi's loyalty! To do that, to defy your father, a _king_, no less, just to follow someone like Kovu...?

It was nothing short of crazy.

"C'mon, Kovu, it'll be alright. You've still got me, don'tcha?"

As the dark-furred lion looked up at his companion, a strange emotion rushed through him at the sight of the young feline: he had been, as Zumi himself had so eloquently put it, 'born wrong', with white fur and pink eyes, and all the best healers said he'd never grow the mane of lionhood or get too much larger than his current size.

Now, as Kovu looked at the younger creature who seemed to so idolize him as to give up everything else he held dear, none of that seemed to matter.

Zumi was a beautiful little cub, perhaps even more beautiful than his big sister.

"Of course, Zumi," he agreed quietly, "I still have you, and you'll always have me."

_**306. Straw-**_

This Jack, Wuya decided, was a weird kid.

Usually, little babies like him cried when she took their toys and called them names, but this one just...looked sad.

Before she was able to start thinking on how she _could_ make the four-year-old cry, the plastic robot was briskly torn from her grip and an open palm struck hard against her chest, knocking her onto her behind into the sandbox.

The boy that stood above her was about her age (six-years-old, give or take), with mean-looking golden eyes and longish black-green hair. Not even looking back at the younger boy as he returned Jack's toy to him, Chase firmly spoke to the girl, "He's mine; if I _ever_ see you pushing him around again, I _will_ hurt you."

Wuya, understandably frightened, stood and ran off.

"Thanks, Chase, this is my favorite toy; gosh, I don't know _what_ I'd do if you weren't around!"

Chase smiled internally, remembering that only last year, the now-eloquently speaking Jack couldn't even enunciate his 'r's to save his life, as he externally promised, "It's a good thing you'll never find out. Now come on, my mom said she'd buy us milkshakes if we hurry up."

"Can mine be a banana milkshake?" Jack asked, red eyes wide and hopeful.

"Of course."

"Do I get a straw, too?"

"Sure," Chase laughed, "whatever you want, _provided_ we hurry."

"Cool, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

_**307. Archive-**_

"Who are you?"

Jack jumped at the sudden, piercing question, whirling about to face the newcomer. "Oh, forgive me, my lord," he quickly apologized. "I'm Jack Spicer; I'm in charge of archiving all of the documents in this library. I...apologize if I'm in your way."

The king briefly glanced around, noting the perfect order of everything, all the books and scrolls flawlessly cataloged on the shelves as he commented, "You do good work, Spicer; my compliments."

Jack's eyes brightened and he practically chirped, "Thank you, sire!"

Chase kept his tone blank as he spoke, "Carry on with your task; I won't interrupt you anymore."

"Oh, of course, my lord, I will!"

As the librarian resumed his work, Chase observed the careful movements of the lithe body as he carried an armful of books up to the very top shelf on a ladder.

Perhaps the young man's slender body could be good for something else besides shelving books...

_**308. Faculty-**_

"Aah! Chase..." Jack cooed underneath the man on the faculty lounge, "you sure know how to make a guy forget about flunking a history test..."

The man nipped at his collarbone, growling out, "You passed that test..."

Jack inhaled sharply as his shirt was tugged off, protesting, "But I didn't even read the chapter; I scored a 48% _at best_."

"No," Chase firmly corrected, "you scored a 98.7%."

Catching on, Jack practically purred as the man slid his hand down under the waistband of the teen's pants.

It kicked _ass_ to have your principal who was willing to bend rules for you as a lover!

_**309. Ecstasy-**_

Desire burned in the pit of his stomach, _demanding_ of his entire body to glut itself on the ecstasy known to be provided from lover's body.

_Damn_ Jack Spicer for being such a cruel, rotten tease!

_**310. Avenge-**_

"Dammit, Spicer, kill him! Avenge me, you fool!"

"Gah!" Jack exclaimed, fingers furiously pressing the buttons that would manipulate Mewtwo to grab and slam the black-and-white Kirby to the ground with his tail. "I'm friggin' trying! It's not _my_ fault you suck with Marth; maybe next time, you should try Peach-ow!"

Despite the whack to the head, Jack then managed to deal a fatal blow to the small, round creature, Kirby wailing until he flew off screen too far and exploded, thus declaring Mewtwo the winner.

Jack smiled like a dork, deciding that, since it was very much fun, he should make Chase play Super Smash Bros. Melee with him more often.

--

**A/N:** _**Stage-**_** It's always interesting to me to imagine that chack is secretly canon; it makes watching the episodes of XS that much better. ;)**

_**Toaster- **_**I hate it when I get tripped up on things like this, like that one where you get asked all these questions and the answers all end in 'o'sounds, like 'row', 'bow', etc., and then the last question is 'What do you do at a red light?' and you say 'go' instinctively, when you actually STOP and a red light. Makes you feel stupid, unless you're the one asking the questions. XD**

_**Possum-**_** I love to say 'awesome possum'. It equals fun. XD Nothing else to say about this one, though, except since I was trying to come up with a good-sound Shen Gong Wu name, I took some of the stuff I've learning in my Japanese class: there are characters used to represent individual objects, originating in China unless I'm totally off-base and haven't been paying attention at all, and they're called kanji. Kanji have two different readings in Japanese, 'on' yomi and 'kun' yomi, 'on' being the Chinese way to say it, and 'kun' being the Japanese. I used 'on' to keep more with the Xiaolin Showdown theme, and the two kanji I used were 'ka' for fire/Tuesday and 'zan (also could be 'san', I think)' for mountain. Basically, 'the Staff of Ka-Zan' is intended to mean 'the Staff of Fire-Mountain', and it fits because it basically makes a mountain of fire. I'm still a n00b with kanji, so if I'm like, **_**way**_** off or something, kindly correct me and I will fix it as opposed to reacting with something to the effect of, "You idiot, that's not how you use kanji! You should be shot for being so stupid!" etc, etc, etc. That kind of thing displeases me.**

_**Shoulders- **_**Chase is a big pushover for his Jack, even if he doesn't show it. :3**

_**Lick-**_** ...Yes, I've created another original character just so I can put Jason Marsden and Danny Cooksey together; I admit it: I have problems. Really, though, Kovu (Jason Marsden) is from the Lion King II: Simba's Pride movie, and if you haven't seen it, I'd say give it a shot; it's a better sequel than most end up being. -.- But anyways, I basically just threw Zumi in there to see what would happen, and it turns out, surprise, surprise, Kovu **_**doesn't**_** end up with Kiara after all! Who'da thunk it? :D**

_**Straw- **_**Continuation of **_**Mastermind **_**from Chapter 27, 'cause I felt like it. -.-**

_**Archive- **_**"Oh, sexy librarian, don't you know I'm loaded?" ****XD**

**h t t p : / / g o - d e v i l - d a n t e . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m / a r t / L - i s - s i c k - o f - w a l k i n g - 1 9 8 2 3 5 8 3**

**(Remove the spaces)**

_**Faculty-**_** Chase is a bad principal...or a really good one, depending on your point of view. XD Bad morally, but good...um...I can't think of how he's a good principal, sorry. XD**

_**Ecstasy**_**- Jack's a cocktease, we all know it. XD**

_**Avenge-**_** Super Smash Bros. Melee is my favorite video game, but I point blank refuse to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl because they took out Mewtwo, who was my ultimate favorite character.**

**But anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it! :D**


	32. Chapter 32

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**311. Signals-**_

"You're driving me crazy!" Jack shrieked. "With all the friggin' mixed signals I get from you, I don't know whether you want to kill me or kiss me!"

The warlord stood, his movements elegant and fluid as he approached the teenager, staring him down.

"Did it ever occur to you that even _I_ didn't know?" he demanded, roughly taking Jack's lips in a kiss the second he had finished speaking.

_**312. Salem Witch Trials-**_

Jack didn't know how his lover felt about all this, but he was getting worried.

False witches were being burned at the stake left and right, and it was only a matter of time until they caught the _real_ ones.

"Hush, my apprentice," the warlock soothed upon hearing of the adolescent's fears, "those moronic villagers only know how to deal with fakes, imitators."

Jack felt Chase's black magic flood his essence, swirling and twining with his own in a calming wave.

"They will _never_ be able to deal with us."

_**313. Antagonize-**_

"Chase. Chase. Chase. Chase. Chase. Chase. Chaaassse. Chase. Cha-"

"Why must you antagonize me, worm?!" the warlord roared in fury, hands clenched tight enough to draw blood at his sides.

Jack only giggled, quipping, "Love ya'!" before disappearing into another room.

Chase could barely force enough control over himself to only glare and growl at the door behind which the goth had escaped from him.

_**314. Third-**_

Considering how clumsy Jack was, Chase was considerably surprised that, out of all of their kisses, only their _third_ had been on accident.

_**315. Famine-**_

Jack had always thought that his lover didn't really care for him, and only used him for sex because all the women in their social class were so close to being men that you could actually see the stubble on their faces and because he was still above fucking farm animals.

The peasant boy was highly touched to find otherwise when, during a particularly harsh famine, Chase had relinquished his food to him, proving that he at least cared enough to go hungry in the younger's stead.

_**316. Swamped-**_

"I'm sorry, Chase, but I have all your class's tests to grade tonight: I'm swamped."

The eighth-grader frowned at his Algebra 2 teacher's blatant refusal and insisted, "Mr. Spicer, I'm _graduating_ next _week_. This may be the last time we ever see each other."

The man looked up at him, red eyes filled with sorrow somewhat hidden behind rimless glasses. "I know, Chase," he said, "and I'll miss what we have, but...it's best if this stops. You're _underaged_, I'm a _teacher_. It's wrong, and we-mmph!"

Chase's lips were forceful enough to bruise as he roughly kissed his teacher before pulling away and firmly stating, "This will stop when _I_ say it stops, Spicer. Remember, I know your address, phone number, and a million other bits of personal information of yours: I will _not_ be ignored."

Jack, a meek, passive man by nature could do no more than sigh in resignation before initiating a kiss (this one decidedly softer and gentler than the previous), then pulling away to submit to the teen, "Right, Chase. I'll try to grade the tests during my lunch hour, so I can see you tonight."

_**317. Barbarian-**_

"Galder, I...I don't want to be a barbarian. I never have, I...I _hate_ fighting monsters and raiding ancient temples and stuff, and I _hate_ that everybody expects me to live up to that kind of standard! Y...you understand, don't you?"

The blonde ran a hand soothingly over the gentle giant's well-muscled arm, assuring, "Of course, Dave, I understand. Just because your _body's_ made for something doesn't mean _you_ are, you know. Honestly, I think you'd be better at something more artsy, like running a quilting shop."

"Ooh," Dave squealed, green eyes alight with joy at the prospect, "I could have all kinds of thread and cloth, and maybe even some yarn for the knitters! Oh, I just _love_ yarn, especially the stringy-fluffy kind with the changing colors and..."

Galder smiled, tuning out his lover's excited rant about yarn as he thought on how just-plain-_cute_ the brunette was when he was in his element.

_**318. Sacrifice-**_

Jack was highly tempted to scream as the sinfully-sharp dagger was raised above the shaman's head, soon to be plunged deep into his own chest, but the gag in his mouth prevented him from doing so.

His wrists and ankles were bound tightly to the stone table, and with the sacrificial dagger already poised to rend his heart from his body, the boy had a feeling that he wasn't going to make it out of this alive.

Tightly shutting his eyes to brace himself for death, Jack was only startled into opening them again as a sharp voice called out in a foreign tongue, causing the shaman to immediately lay down his knife, several priests scrambling to unshackle the albino from the table.

Sitting up to see who had saved him, all words died in the boy's throat at the masculine figure he now looked at.

The man's body was tan, absolutely gorgeous and perfectly-sculpted as if by a master artist, someone with the skill equivalent to, perhaps even _better_ than Michelangelo! Every muscle visible was firm and strong, from the broad chest to the well-toned abdomen to his thighs which, in Jack's humble opinion, were hot enough to _melt butter_. Long, thick hair was kept from the man's handsome face with a golden, bejeweled crown, complemented by the like jewelry about his neck and upper arms that marked him as someone important, perhaps even a _king_.

Feeling burning, golden eyes roving over his body, causing a slight shiver to run down his spine, Jack heard the beautiful male say something else (though _what_ exactly, he wasn't sure due to the language barrier), and he was soon dragged down from the raised platform and almost formally presented to the king.

As a large, strong hand curled around his wrist in an iron grip, the other moving just under the hem of his clothing while (presumably) filthy words were whispered hotly in his ear, Jack got another feeling.

If he lived until tomorrow, he was going to be _very_ sore and exhausted in the morning.

_**319. Sentiment-**_

Chase wasn't one for birthday celebrations, but Jack's sentiment in the form of a cake and a priceless, ancient Chinese spear (which Jack had said his mother would be pissed that it was missing from the foyer, but what the hell!) were nonetheless appreciated.

_**320. Serpentine-**_

Chase ran a hand through Jack's pale hair, giving a pleased growl when the younger male's tongue began battling with his for dominance.

A long, serpentine tail slowly coiled around his waist, white, iridescent scales glinting in the light of the human man's bedroom before Chase was finally forced to break the kiss for air, looking down at the young naga in his arms.

"Does that explain why I'm protecting you, Jack?" he demanded. "Why I saved you from that sewer and gave you a home within mine? Why I won't let anyone else near you but me?"

Lightheaded and slightly dizzy (having never been kissed before, much less this physically close to someone), the albino panted out, "Y-yeah, I think so...but...maybe..."

A sly glint with only the smallest hints of shyness sparkled in Jack's ruby eyes.

"Maybe you should explain it again..."

--

**A/N:** _**Signals-**_** More based-off-of canon, but-not-necessarily canon. Even Chase gets confused, sometimes, I mean: kill, kiss, it's only off by 2 repeated letters at the end, and there's only 7 letters in between 'L' and 'S'. XD**

_**Salem Witch Trials- **_**I'm downright shocked that this scenario hadn't crossed my mind until I was given the word. Usually, I think up scenarios for **_**every **_**time period, so why this one escaped my grasp is beyond me. Still, though, better late than never! :D**

_**Antagonize-**_** Because Chase doesn't suffer **_**nearly**_** enough being with Jack otherwise, and so he must be bothered with nonsense at all hours of the day. XD**

_**Third- **_**This is **_**kind of**_** a tie-in to **_**Stumble**_** in Chapter 22, but not really; basically just a reference to the fact that Jack is a klutz and would probably at some point be highly likely to trip or fall over something or whatever he'll do and end up lip-locked with Chase.**

_**Famine-**_** Medieval Europe era chack, because I haven't touched the one-shot I said I was writing for it in several months, and this is probably the closest I'll get to writing it until my inspiration floods back; rest assured, it'll be up **_**eventually**_**, and the plot of **_**Famine**_** is not, by any means, that of **_**Feudal Order, **_**but that's all I'm going to say.**

_**Swamped- **_**Chase has a controlling personality, yes? o.0 Really, though, they love each other, but Chase feels threatened when Jack says things like that to indicate a break-up, and Jack is always worried he's pressuring Chase into being with him against his will. It'll all work out when Chase turns 18, and he finally has the legal right to chose to be romantically involved with someone, because Jack won't feel guilty about taking advantage of a kid anymore, so he won't question their relationship, thus giving Chase no reason to be so friggin' pissy. My logic is **_**amazing**_**, isn't it? XD**

_**Barbarian- **_**This is another one of those things where I stuck Jason Marsden and Danny Cooksey together through their characters from another show, but this time, neither of them are of my own creation. Both Galder and Dave are from the cartoon Dave the Barbarian (in case you don't know, or whatever), and even though Galder only shows up in 1/2 of an episode, I still had to put the two together, which you'd know if you had read my one-shot, **_**Lust and Avarice**_**. You don't at all have to have read it to understand **_**Barbarian,**_** but if you're interested, by all means, go have a look! :D**

_**Sacrifice-**_** Chase is an Aztec king, a horny one, apparently;guess all the women were sacrificed. XD Naw, really, Chase likey Jack...all night long. XD Sorry, sorry, I can't stop making jokes; I apologize, I don't know what's gotten into me. I'll just...stop now. o.o**

_**Sentiment**_**- ... Jack **_**would**_** get him a cake...you think it'd be chocolate or vanilla? Ice cream or regular? Normal frosting or butter-cream? Hmm, decisions, decisions... XD**

_**Serpentine-**_** Of course, I just **_**couldn't**_** leave **_**Sewers **_**from Chapter 12 alone, could I? Luv teh snake-boi! Luv him gewd! Quickly, before Chase gets to him! There'll be nothing left! XD**

**But anyways, that's Chapter 32 for you, so...hope you liked it! :D**


	33. Chapter 33

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**321. Skrull-**_

"Chase, guess what?"

"..."

"Chase, guess what?"

"..."

"Chase, guess what?"

_"What?"_ the man finally demanded, certain of what was to come from his lover's mouth.

"Elektra's a skrull!"

"I _know_," Chase growled, "you've told me 27 times this week!"

"...BlackBolt's a skrull, too!"

"_18_ times! I don't care about your silly little Marvel universe!"

"But you _should_ care," Jack insisted, "with all those skrulls, it's only a matter of time before there _isn't_ a Marvel universe!"

"Ugh..."

_**322. Matrix-**_

Chase sighed softy, rubbing a hand slowly up and down the sleeping boy's back as the youth snored quietly with his head on the older's chest.

Totally relaxed in the peaceful calm of the moment, Chase decided that chosen one or no, he was glad he had rescued Daniel Jordan (or as his new resistance name was, Jack Spicer) from the clutches of the Matrix before it was too late for him.

_**323. Obsidian-**_

Chase stared at the awe-inspiring sight before him, jaw dropped at the sheer beauty of it.

A young man, an _angel_, was shackled to the wall by cuffs of obsidian, his legs perfectly straight with his arms out on either side of him in a crucificial pose while his wings, pure white as he was, were grossly splotched with his bright, crimson blood from the two knives embedding them to the wall in an obscene marring of innocent beauty.

It was Chase's duty to release this 'tragic guardian' and lead him against his kingdom's enemies in a violent, bloody battle, but...he no longer knew if he could stand to surrender the lovely young creature to his king, not when he could have the angel all to himself...

...King Hannibal would be disappointed at Chase's 'lack of success' in finding the guardian.

_**324. Examiner-**_

"I'm sorry, sir," the examiner spoke, tone firm and expression solemn, "but I've analyzed him to the best of my ability and could come to no other conclusion than this: he is completely, utterly, homicidally, suicidally, and clinically insane. There's absolutely nothing we can do for him."

There was a tense silence.

"...may I...may I see him?"

"Of course."

The man was ushered into the padded cell and he immediately headed for the lone figure in the corner, huddled up with his knees to his chest.

The white of the straight-jacket seemed too similar to his lover's skin tone and looked wrong on him in place of his usual black attire. His red-orange hair was ruffled and somewhat dull as the boy's crimson eyes looked up at him, sleepy from the _massive_ amounts of drugs that had been pumped into him after an assault on a nurse.

"Hey, Chase...what're y'doin' here?"

The man winced at the slurring sentence, feeling an indignant rage well up within him upon seeing Jack's poor condition. _His_ lover deserved _far_ better than such shameful treatment.

"Listen to me, Jack" he began, catching the youth's attention just before his eyes slipped shut from artificial exhaustion, "I know you're tired, but listen: I _will_ get you out of here. You will not suffer and die here like some run-of-the-mill loon; I _will_ save you from this place."

The teen smiled drowsily, muttering, "Course y'will, Chase, _I_ know that," before finally succumbing to the medication and passing out in a slump against the wall.

_**325. Empire-**_

Chase knew that he could not officially marry his little lover, could not consolidate their bond beyond that of emperor and concubine.

Why, it would shame the entire Roman empire!

But he knew it was enough for Jack to know that he _had_ never and _would_ never marry another, and that he would always remain loyal to the young boy he had claimed as his beloved.

_**326. Fallen-**_

Chase sighed, feeling his black, leathery wings turn dark grey as his realized love for the foolish little angel lightened his black soul, destroying the demon-general's pride in being the most evil of devils in hell in one fell swoop.

The young fallen, who had lost his place in heaven for _his_ love of Chase, was currently asleep against the general's chest, his feathery, now-grey-tinted white wings fluffing a bit in the midst of some dream or other.

A demon and an angel in love? How the fates had a way of conspiring against lovers!

_**327. Tiresome-**_

"C'mon, Chase, let's get some cotton candy before the booth gets really crowded!"

Drudging along behind the hyper youth, embarrassed to admit he was exhausted from being towed relentlessly around the carnival, the warlord muttered, "You are _so_ tiresome..."

Jack turned to face the man, a giddy smile on his face as the red, pink, and orange lights of the fair glinted in his eyes, teasing, "You _know_ you love it."

And truthfully, Chase did.

_**328. Hieroglyphics-**_

Jack was frightened out of his mind, absolutely terrified at the rotted, decomposed corpse that stood before him.

How was _he_ supposed to have known that reading those hieroglyphics aloud would resurrect an ancient Egyptian priest bent on bringing destruction and death to the world?

Whimpering softly as the being came closer to him, the teen tried to mentally prepare himself for death, only to pause as the deceased creature hesitated, muttering in centuries-old, guttural Egyptian, _"My love?"_

Before Jack could truly attempt to understand what _that_ was supposed to mean, why a sense of familiarity rushed over him at the title, the group of archaeologists he had come to the excavation site with burst into the room in the attempt to save him.

The corpse barely even glanced at them before they were surrounded by a whirlwind of sand, screaming blood-curdlingly as their flesh and organs were taken, assimilated and used in the regeneration of the dead man's body, leaving nothing of the group of men but dried out, skeletally-thin remains.

Upon seeing what the regeneration had done to the mummy, however, Jack gaped despite himself at the pure masculine beauty, something inside of him saying that the firm, strong musculature far better suited the man than the stringy, witheredness of before.

The memory of what he had looked like only a few seconds earlier made him feel...intensely sad and guilty for some reason.

As the man grabbed ahold of him, snugging the youth's pale body up against his own, the goth noted that instead of death and decay, the priest now smelled of spice and incense, the two scents that had always seemed to instantly calm and relax him since he was very young, as if everything would be okay so long as he was surrounded by that distinct smell.

_"Oh, my love,"_ the once-dead male purred to him, _it __**is**__ you! Finally, we can be together, my dearest."_

Even though he was confused by all these strange emotions flooding his heart and soul, calling back a feeling of affectionate nostalgia and the desire to be closer to this homicidal, potentially-dangerous man for a reason that he was unable to place, Jack decided that he could question it later.

Or rather, broach the issue of not being the priest's love, or if he was a reincarnation as the man (Chase, his mind somehow supplied) seemed to believe, (which would, by the way he was feeling now, make a lot of sense) that he was unable to remember being such later.

As it was, for the first time in Jack's life (or at least _this_ one if the latter theory was true) he felt whole.

_**329. Void-**_

Chase had absolutely fallen apart when his Jack had died.

He had tried everything to help him forget: drugs, alcohol, sex with strangers, but not a thing could fill the gaping void that the cheerful, hyper, dorky, loving little goth boy had left inside of him.

Finally, though, _finally_, the man had found the answer to his overwhelming grief.

A gunshot rang out through the cold night air, quickly followed by the large splash of something falling from the city bridge and into the icy river below, total silence then taking the darkness once more.

_**330. Attracted-**_

"Why do I love you?" Jack echoed, "Well, I don't know, I think it's because I seem to be attracted to putting myself in dangerous situations; hell, what's more dangerous than being in love with an evil, magical monster who could kill you at any second?"

At Chase's look of slight disappointment, Jack smiled and added, "Of course, the fact that you're totally sexy and just plain awesome, and that I feel safe with you _despite_ the fact that you could snap my neck in a heartbeat really sweetens the deal for me, too."

--

**A/N:** **Dang, this...this is a pretty emo-ish chapter. Not much happy going on here, but...anyways:**

_**Skrull-**_** Ok, in case you don't know, which many of you probably don't, a skrull is an alien-thing-a-ma-bob from the Marvel universe, and they basically kidnap people (super-heroes) and replace them for some reason in a plot to take over the Earth as their new home-planet...or something like that. Matt knows more about it than me, so I'm hoping HINT, HINT, MATT IF YOU'RE READING that he'll post a review soon explaining a little bit about it for me. Other than that, this is a mimic of what Matt does to me every frickin' day he talks to me on the phone; just replace 'Chase' with 'Krystn' and 'Jack' with 'Matt'; every day he bugs me with skrulls, and every day I tell him I don't care, but does he listen? No. Ah, well, what are you gonna do about it? -.-"**

_**Matrix- **_**HOMAHGAWD**_**, **_**Chase is Morpheus and Jack is Neo! Superdy crapdamn! o.0 Seriously, just a take-off of The Matrix with Chase and Jack in the previously-indicated roles...how much better/weirder would The Matrix have been if Morpheus and Neo had been screwing, I wonder quietly to myself? Hmm...I shall ponder this extensively...**

_**Obsidian-**_** Nothing much to say. -.-**

_**Examiner- **_**It's always sort of fascinated me to know what would happen if Jack ever got committed or something, so I decided to try it out; I think it came out well.**

_**Empire-**_** Go to Wikipedia, look up 'pederasty', scroll to the 'Contents' menu thing, click 'The Romans' subtopic under 'The Ancient World' and read it.**

_**Fallen- **_**Another idea I've thought about at random points of my life, and I finally found the opportunity to write something for it in **_**Anthology.**_** Besides that, nothing really to say...although, if an angel too sinful for heaven is referred to as a 'fallen', would a devil too pious for hell be referred to as a 'risen'? o.0**

_**Tiresome- **_**Meh**_**, **_**no comment again**_**. -.-**_

_**Hieroglyphics-**_** In case you're wondering, yes, I **_**did**_** rip off The Mummy. Chase is playing High Priest Imhotep, and Jack is playing Evelyn Carnahan, only whoever happened to be playing Rick O'Connell just got killed, and Imhotep/Chase doesn't want to kill Evelyn/Jack so he can resurrect his first love Anck-Su-Namun, because this time the two actually **_**are**_** one in the same, and it's only a matter of getting Jack to remember his previous life. If you've never seen The Mummy, Wikipedia, as I mentioned in Chapter 15, is info-god.**

_**Void**_**- This may very well be the most depressing thing I've ever written. It made me sad inside to write it. That's all I have to say, though.**

_**Attracted-**_** Jack is a danger-whore, I think. He **_**knows**_** full-well he sucks at fighting, and yet every frickin' time, he shows up at the Showdowns to get his butt handed to him. Honestly, it's a wonder he hasn't died yet. I think, actually, he has something called histrionic personality disorder, and again, Wikipedia is info-god, so... yeah.**

**But, there's my chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it! :D**


	34. Chapter 34

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**331. Pirate-**_

Jack cursed loudly as his favorite wrench was chucked at his head, cracking viciously across his skull while his mother shrieked, "Get out of here, you-you butt-pirate, you!"

Wincing at the brutal headache he now had as he slunk away from his own home in defeat, the goth was, therefore, considerably surprised to see his lover standing in front of him, decked out in full pirate-garb (as he himself soon was with a crackle of Heylin magic), the man speaking firmly, "I know you are scum, but even _scum_ has dignity! Hold your head high, cabin boy, shoulders back. I expect to see you in my quarters in no more than twenty minutes, else the punishment you receive shall be _quite_ severe. Oh, and boy? Those are _captain's_ orders, and they _will_ be followed."

As the older male disappeared, Jack took a brief moment to reflect on how fetching Chase had looked in that dark green captain's jacket and uniform (and could only assume the warlord thought the same of him in the tattered capris and sleeveless shirt, a black bandanna concealing all but a few wisps of his fire-red hair and the three golden earrings that dangled from each earlobe) before coming back to himself and rushing over towards the various piles of 'faggot junk' to find which pile in particular his mother had tossed his heli-pack.

If he didn't hurry, he'd be thrown in the brig, and he'd much rather polish the plank, so to speak.

_**332. Sound-**_

If there was one sound in the world that made Chase Young's knees weak, it was Jack Spicer's scream.

Whether the shrill sound of being startled, the shriek of being in actual danger, or even the breathless, wanton cry as the man granted him release, a feeling of mild loathing shot through Chase at the noise, _hating_ how soft he had gotten for the goth, but not wanting to change it for the world...

Besides, if he really wanted the latter, he could easily get that anyways, _without_ sacrificing his Jack's love.

_**333. Men-**_

"Ugh, my drama teacher is _so_ gay," Jack griped, "I swear to god, next he'll have us singng 'It's Raining Men'!"

Chase gave his lover a blank look. "You're hoping he does, aren't you?"

"Yeah, kinda," the youth admitted, a desirous look on his face.

_**334. Ninja-**_

"Why must you lie about me to your friends?"

"Huh?" Jack blinked, "I don-"

"You know full-well I am not Japanese, so-"

"Oh, _that_," Jack realized, "that's not what I meant when I said-"

"-since ninjas are Japanese, it is entirely impossible-"

"It's just an expression, you're taking it _way_ too literally-"

"-that I have 'crazy-awesome ninja skills'."

Jack sighed, exasperated as he flatly amended, "I'm sorry, Chase, I should have said, 'my boyfriend has crazy awesome _martial arts_ skills'. It won't happen again, alright?"

The warlord huffed, reluctantly forgiving, "Fine. But it best _not_ happen again."

The goth smiled and kissed the man, snickering internally at how much of a _princess_ the cold, stern warrior really was.

_**335. Dynasty-**_

"Chase, do you have a favorite dynasty?"

The warlord barely had to think before answering, "The Ming Dynasty."

Jack made a curious noise in his throat before questioning, "Why?"

Chase pushed the goth back onto the bed, straddling his waist with a predatory grin.

"Because we could have expressed our love much more freely, then," he explained, "in public with no groans of disgust or disapproving stares. There would be no prejudice for us."

_**336. Gargoyle-**_

Chase had always thought his reptilian form hideous, monstrous and ugly like a gargoyle: meant to frighten and terrify with its horrid countenance.

The warlord, obviously then, wasn't sure how to feel when Jack had cooed and gushed over the beast's looks, claiming that Chase's dragon-form was the most handsome creature he had ever laid eyes on, besides Chase himself, of course.

_**337. Hell-**_

"Chase Young, you are hereby ejected from hell for your shameful association with an angel!"

"Fine," the former demon-general snarled, shielding his frightened lover from the prying eyes of other devils with one blackish-grey wing, "I would rather endure a life with _humans_ than to live amongst those who would hurt my love!"

_**338. Chivalry-**_

Jack giggled as Chase helped him down from his horse (they had decided to go riding that day), thus causing the older man to ask, "What?"

Still snickering a bit, the albino answered, "They should change the saying to: 'chivalry isn't dead; it sold its soul to a bean 1,500 years ago and turned into an evil immortal dragon'."

_**339. Shy-**_

"Why are you always so shy in bed, rabbit?" Chase wondered aloud, nipping playfully at the goth's neck in trying to goad an answer from the boy.

It was an answer Jack could not give.

How was he supposed to say that he was scared of doing the wrong thing and making the warlord hate him again?

That might make the man angry at him, and Jack couldn't risk that: Chase was his _everything_.

_**340. Broke-**_

Damn, Jack thought to himself, staring dejectedly at the practically-glowing video game system in the shop window, it _sucked_ to be broke.

Stupid monks for breaking his wall again, making his parents cut him off for a whole month to 'learn the value of a dollar'...

The sound of a throat being cleared beside him caught the albino's attention, and Jack 'squee'-ed at the sight of Chase holding out a plastic bag for him, containing the desired electronic device.

The goth joyfully hugged the man with intense affection, Chase turning his head away in false aloofness.

Correction: it was _awesome_ being broke because your evil lover was forced to be cute and buy stuff for you.

--

**A/N:** _**Pirate-**_** ...Had to use 'butt-pirate'. It's been bottled up for **_**so**_** long, but I finally manged to work it in! XD Also, Jack likes blowjobs better than bondage because blowjobs are easier and involve a lot less pain for both parties than bondage, and Jack is **_**not**_** a fan of pain. I'll bet he bruises like...some sort of easily-bruised fruit. XD**

_**Sound-**_** No comment. -.-**

_**Men-**_** My computer/drama teacher from eighth grade actually **_**was**_** gay, and at every play the school did, his boyfriend had a seat in the front row. :) But anyways, I was talking to my mom about him a **_**long**_** while back, and she actually said the 'It's Raining Men' line. XD And Jack **_**would**_** want to sing it, wouldn't he?**

_**Ninja-**_** Chase is a princess, and that princess becomes a 'Class A Bitch' when she doesn't get her way. XD**

_**Dynasty-**_** Again, inspired by the 'Pederasty' article on Wikipedia, this time under the 'China' section; it took place namely during the Ming Dynasty.**

_**Gargoyle-**_** No comment. -.-**

_**Hell- **_**Continuation of **_**Fallen**_** in Chapter 33; the higher-ups of hell discover the affair and kick him out; Chase doesn't really mind.**

_**Chivalry-**_** ...lolz. XD**

_**Shy**_**- No comment. -.-**

_**Broke-**_** Matt's been bugging me about doing one where Jack's parents cut him off, so I finally did. It's a damn good thing he has Chase, though, 'cause otherwise, what would the poor little rich-bitch do without moneys? XD**

**And that's Chapter 34, posted the very day after Chapter 33 was posted; yes, I **_**am**_** on a roll right now, why, thank you for noticing (oh, yeah, and reading the chapter, too, I guess XD).**


	35. Chapter 35

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**341. Taste-**_

"Mmm," Jack sighed in utmost content, the rich, syrupy flavor lingering pleasantly on his tastebuds, "Chase, this Sugar Honey-Maple Latte is, like, the _best_ thing _ever_..."

Deciding to test the theory, Chase pressed his lips to the goth's, deftly slipping his tongue into his mouth as he took what he could of the taste from his lover's tongue.

"Hmm," Chase eventually conceded, "it _is_ fairly sweet."

"Yeah," Jack grinned coyly, proposing, "want another taste?"

_**342. Do-**_

When asked on his opinion of rules, Chase firmly answered that he did _what_ he wanted, _when_ he wanted.

This currently applied to his goth lover, and he blatantly told the boy to shut up before kissing Jack forcefully as he pinned him to the bed.

_**343. Convict-**_

"Hey, there," Chase heard, startling him from his calm state, "what's a sexy convict like you doing in a place like this?"

Turning to see who had interrupted his peace, the older teen groaned aloud at the sight of the self-proclaimed 'fastest boy alive', muttering, "What do _you_ want?"

The red-head smiled amiably, sitting next to the dark-haired male and replying, "Nothing but your company; it's gotta be lonely up here all by yourself."

Chase's eyes flashed with light and a tree branch on the birch atop the cliff where the two of them were sitting abruptly fell off, thwacking the speedster over the head and causing him to whine, "Owwww...damn, a guy tries to be helpful, and look what happens!"

"Maybe I don't _want_ your help," Chase scowled.

Jack frowned as well and stood, putting a hand on the other super-powered male's shoulder. "Well, look," he sighed in defeat, "if you ever want to talk, give me a call. Just 'cause you're the living representation of bad luck doesn't mean you _have_ to be evil."

A whoosh of wind, and the teen was gone, only to both return and leave again within seconds, a small vase with a single, red rose and a small card with a phone number on it in his place.

Chase's eyes flashed again, the vase shattering and the rose falling on the ground as the little paper card was soaked by the water in seconds, and for a long moment, the teen refused to even acknowledge its presence.

Eventually, though, hesitantly, Chase's hand reached out and took hold of the wet card, storing it away in his pocket. He _might_ consider _thinking_ about calling.

_Maybe._

_**344. Kid-Friendly-**_

"We should skin them alive with rusty potato peelers and dip them in lemon juice!" Wuya suggested, an excited grin on her face.

Chase Young had decided to hear ideas, from whomever on the Heylin side would give them, on how to potentially torture the Xiaolin monks. They were now finding out first-hand just how hard to please he was.

"_I_ say we bind them to trees and let my purr-fect kitties use them as scratching posts."

The warlord yawned in boredom, turning his head to the side as he obviously dismissed the idea.

"Ooh, ooh, I got one!" The entire room groaned in exasperation as Jack spoke up, and before anyone could forcefully silence him, he proposed, "We should tie them up and make them watch while Chase does non-kid-friendly things to me."

"Ew," Ashley cringed, "that's _sick_! What's _wrong_ with you?!"

"Oh, please," Wuya cackled, "why would someone like him even _touch_ a twerp like you?"

"Hm," Chase honestly considered, causing the cat-burglar and the witch to gasp in something akin to horror, "now _that_ is the best idea I've heard all day, Spicer. Wuya, Katnappe: you are dismissed; Jack: strip and follow me. I believe we should practice a bit first"

_**345. Payment-**_

"Here for a fix, Spicer?"

The goth shuffled awkwardly under Chase's hard stare and muttered, "Yeah..."

The older man patted the empty spot on the loveseat, inviting the teenager to sit, which he did albeit hesitantly.

"This is your fifth visit this week, you know," the man informed. "You're becoming insatiable."

A low whine came from Jack, a pathetic, shamed look on his face as he weakly moaned, "I can't help it, you know that."

Chase said no more in chastising, grabbing the boy's arm and removing a needle from his pocket (clean and new; he would never risk a dirty or used one on his favorite client) and injected the contents into the youth's bloodstream.

Jack groaned in satisfaction at the drug's immediate intoxication of his senses, a calm, shivery wave washing over him as he cuddled affectionately up against the older man, purring in pleasure.

The drug was known for inducing highly amorous behavior in the user, making it popular amongst those who had given up on the world in that it made things seem pleasant and beautiful again instead of ghastly and horrid as it truly was.

"There's still the matter of your payment, Spicer..." Chase's voice was husky and rough, indicative of what he wanted, and Jack quite easily gave in, sprawling out under the man on the smaller-than-couch furniture, inviting, "Sure, baby, you can have me."

Straddling the goth, now easy-going and affectionate from the drug's influence on his system, Chase knew it was ridiculously selfish and greedy, but he hoped his addicted lover _never_ got clean.

After all, if he did, Jack wouldn't keep coming back to him, wouldn't need him, and if that happened, Chase didn't know what he'd do, not when it was _he_ who truly needed _Jack_.

_**346. Nurse-**_

_Jack squealed in excited fear, heels clicking on the marble floor as he dashed away. "Oh, no," he shrieked," the big, scary crocodile's gonna get me!"_

_A growling rumble of, "Now where __**is**__ that sexy nurse? I think I shall have my way with him now..." and Jack shrieked for real as he was tackled to the ground, only to quiver with a moan as a large, scaly tail found its way up under the bottom hem of his dress and into his panties. "Oh, you sick monster, you!" he groaned._

_Chase laughed in a gravelly voice, teasing, "Well, then, if I'm so sick, then you're the one to cure me, aren't you, nurse?"_

Wuya shuddered at the unwanted memory, and was highly tempted to dip her eyeballs in a very abrasive cleanser to forget what she had mistakenly seen.

_**347. Protection-**_

"Okay, so: this woman gets mugged one day, and she's really freaked out that it'll happen again. She decides to take precautions, so she buys birth control the next day; why?"

Chase sighed, sure of the punchline, but feigning ignorance anyways, "I give up: why?"

" 'Cause she wanted the best protection a woman can have!"

As Jack giggled at the asinine joke, Chase busied himself in staring at the wall, wondering how many times he would have to slam his head into it to _possibly_ become _half_ as stupid as his lover sometimes seemed to be.

_**348. Speeches-**_

Jack smiled as his audience cheered, utterly captivated by his speech, before he stepped down from the stage in order to allow the men there to speak to him on an equal level should they decide they wanted to.

Only a few were brave enough to do so, and their excited praise was accepted with a smile and all the humbleness he could manage, but they and the audience were soon gone, still singing the praises of Jack Spicer, genius.

Grinning softly in satisfaction, the former blacksmith's apprentice gathered up his coat and went to leave, only to be stopped by a pair of large hands rubbing at his shoulders and a hot mouth but his ear whispering, "Going home to tinker with your toys so soon?"

The revolutionary's voice sent shivers down the inventor's spine, and he coyly replied, "Well, I _had_ been considering it..."

Chase growled and turned the younger man to face him as he pinned him up against the wall. "Don't tease me Spicer," the man rumbled, "I will rule this country one day, and you would do well to stay on my good side."

"Oh, I bet you will," Jack agreed slyly, "if I don't rule it first."

"You are clever, yes," Chase conceded, already undoing the buttons of the intellectual's shirt, "but you lack charisma. _I_ am the driving force behind this rebellion, and you are merely a minor player."

Jack grinned again, deciding, "Oh, well, if that's true, I'd best leave this 'revolution' business to those who _do_ have charisma, and go on to rejoin jolly old Britain."

The young man was struck roughly across the cheek, Chase snarling, "_Never_ speak such things! You swore yourself to _me_, not King George!"

Jack's hands ran soothingly through the other man's long, dark hair as he coolly assured with a soft smile, "I'm not going anywhere, General Young. You know me: I like to tease you every now and again, but I'm loyal enough. I won't leave you."

The elder seemed appeased by the statement and he breathed deeply to calm himself before bending slightly to nuzzle his lover's cheek in silent apology for the smack, even as Jack casually quipped, "Besides, King George's powdered wig is _quite_ the turn-off."

_**349. Flaws-**_

Chase's flaws were few and far between, but he nonetheless had them.

Jack cherished every single one as a precious quirk, and thinking of it that way made the goth love the man all the more.

After all, he had always had a _thing_ for quirky...

_**350. Liquor-**_

There was a party in the Spicer manor, a Heylin party to be specific, with drunken debauchery and merry-making all around.

Tubbimura and PandaBubba had become..._close friends_ in the past six hours of partying, and were currently belly-dancing on a table-top, Good Jack (who was only here because his lover of the magnoliophyta genus had invited him) and Gigi cheering them on as they snuggled on a loveseat together.

Katnappe had passed out on a chandelier about an hour ago, and Wuya was amusing herself by prodding the young woman with a broom.

Hannibal had met his end early into the party, but everyone was _far_ too drunk to care; besides, he made some _damn_ tasty chili.

Vlad was sitting around, annoyed as he listened to the two drunkest idiots at the party babble on, Jack Spicer and Le Mime.

"Jack, yuh-you...throw some sexy parties..._seriously_."

Realizing exactly what he had thought about and what was just said by whom, the Russian questioned, "Are you _speaking_?"

"Hey, shut up!" the mime angrily slurred, cracking a bottle of liquor over the blonde's head, knocking him out cold before sobbing to Jack, "My mom kicked me out! She-she s'all like, 'You're a lazy bum! Get a job!' And I's like," he made wild gestures with his hands, "and she just shoved me out the door!"

He broke into full-out crying now, clinging desperately to his goth friend as he warbled, "I live in a _shack_, now! I've been eating _rooocks_!"

"Hey, hey, s'okay, buddeh, 'sokay," Jack soothed, "I could spare ya' a couple thousand bucks. I'm rich, y'know."

The albino was abruptly yanked away, and upon looking, Jack joyfully squealed, "Chaaaasssse! Hey, baby, what're _you_ doin' here?"

"As I recall," the warlord began, not releasing his grip on the boy's arm, "your invitation was for _all_ Heylin. I decided I'd best check up on you to make sure you hadn't gotten yourself killed."

"Awww," the youth cooed happily, "you took time out of your evilly-evil day to check on me? You're, like, the best boyfriend _ever_!"

Quickly scenting the alcohol on his lover's breath, Chase snarled, "You're _drunk_."

"You're _sexy_," Jack shot right back, hanging off of the warlord's arm and poking a finger to his chest plate, a goofy smile on his face.

The teen abruptly found himself lifted off the ground and thrown over his lover's shoulder, and as Chase began hauling the drunken youth away, Jack called out to Le Mime, "Sorry, buddeh, Chase wants ta' have his way with me, now; call me tomorrow, an' I'll fax you some moneys. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, and if you do it anyways, name it after me!"

Chase groaned in exasperation, wondering how many times, in the _long_ future of their relationship (i.e., eternity), he would have to forcibly pull his totally smashed lover away from a crazy party.

--

**A/N:** _**Taste- **_**Honestly, I'm not a coffee fan at all, and yet I write this. o.o**

_**Do-**_** Jack asks stupid questions, Chase doesn't let them interfere with their sex-making. XD**

_**Convict-**_** Well, since ScathingSarcasm requested a Teen Titans-based one, I wrote it; the pairing is my tweaked version of Kid Flash/Jinx, which I honestly don't really like in the actual version of it because Jinx kinda comes off as a bitch in the show and I don't like her. But anyways, it was hard for me to figure out how to place Chase and Jack in their most fitting roles, because in Kid Flash's premiere episode, Jinx is kinda fangirlish for Madam Rouge like Jack is for Chase, but Madam Rouge is not Chase-ish in my head **_**at**__**all**_**, so that was out. Matt also briefly had me consider Chase being Slade, which **_**does **_**kinda fit, but then for it to really work, Jack would have to be Robin, and Robin's all serious and, like, 'grr'-ish, and Jack is totally a lover, not a fighter, so that was out, too. For a REALLY shorrt second, I thought about making Jack be Gizmo, but...Omi's the bald midget, not Jack. XD In the end, I decided Jack would be Kid Flash because they're both red-heads and smart-asses and such, and then I just made Chase be Jinx for the hell of it. XD Well, no, it fits a little, because in Teen Titans, Kid Flash is always flirty with Jinx, and she hates him, so...yeah. If you've never seen Teen Titans...well, you poor, unfortunate soul, you; BUT if you really haven't seen it, some clips from **_**Lightspeed **_**(Kid Flash's first episode, Jinx is also in it) can be found here: h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / p r o f i l e ****underscore**** v i d e o s ? u s e r ****equalsign**** K i d F l a s h**

**(Just remove the spaces and replace the underlined words with their corresponding symbols) Also, I'm pretty sure the whole episode is on there, but last I checked it was kinda not-good sound quality, so...if you can tolerate that, I guess go find it, if not, stick with the clips.**

_**Kid-Friendly-**_** ...lolz. XD**

_**Payment-**_** Jackie's a druggie, and Chase is a dealer. :( But, you know, Chase is careful not to give Jack a fatal dose or use unsafe needles and such, so it's less dangerous than any other addict's situation, and Jack's not really losing his chance at having a future, because he doesn't have to waste money on buying drugs, and he doesn't have to worry about where he gets his next fix 'cause Chase is reliable, and...yeah. Basically, I'm trying to say that while its not positive in any way, and NO ONE SHOULD ABUSE DRUGS, Jack is in a fairly stable situation, and Chase takes care of him well enough.**

_**Nurse-**_** Roleplaying is fun! :D Wuya apparently disagrees. XD**

_**Protection- **_**...I should be hit for this joke, truly. I came up with it on my own. ;.;Apologies all around for subjecting you to it, please forgive me.**

_**Speeches-**_** A continuation of **_**Revolution**_** from Chapter 29. I had been vaguely thinking of ScathingSarcasm's idea when I was writing **_**Revolution**_**, and when I decided to write **_**Speeches**_** as a continuation of it, I decided to make it final: Jack is a parallel of Benjamin Franklin, although Good Ol' Ben wasn't a blacksmith's apprentice, he was a printer's, his older brother's apprentice to be precise. :D I just figured blacksmith fit Jack a bit better. And of course, what would Benajmin Franklin!Jack be without George Washington!Chase? XD Also, if you didn't know (which I honestly didn't either and had to look up to find out) King George III was the king at the time of the American revolution, so I made a reference to him.**

_**Flaws**_**- I recall your attention to the episode of Xiaolin Showdown with the mermaid in it, and I quote, ":dreamily/lovestruck: She's quirky..."**

_**Liquor-**_** ...Matt...and I discussed this extensively over the phone, and officially decided it was the best thing ever. He had tried to get me to have Wuya and Katnappe making out, but I decided I'd rather have Good Jack and Gigi doing that, but I neglected to tell him this, and when he read it, he was just like, "lolz!" Also, Jack luuuuurves crazy parties. XD**

**But anywho, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for reading! :D**


	36. Chapter 36

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**351. Stretches-**_

Chase gaped outright at the visual of his lover running through a basic series of stretches, something he never thought he'd see in a million years.

Stunned nearly to the point of silence, the warlord helplessly stuttered, "I...Jack, wh-are you _stretching_? _Actually_ doing something to train your body?"

Clasping his hands above his head, Jack bent his arms backwards to the point that his shoulders rotated, thus allowing the backs of his hands to make contact with the curve of his spine.

"Well, how the hell else do you expect me to be as flexible as you want me?" the goth challenged glaring lightly at the man, almost offended, "If I could do _that_ stuff without stretching, I'd be _Gumbi_, for god's sakes!"

_**352. Calculate-**_

"Hah," Chase chuckled breathlessly at his lover's declaration of how awkward it would be if the monks walked in on them at that moment (when the just so happened to be 'doing it'), "do you have any idea of the astronomical odds against that?"

Doing some quick mental calculations, Jack answered, "Somewhere around 5,647,489,062.000003 to 1, right?"

"...Now _that's_ just downright _odd_, Spicer; don't do it again."

_**353. Vulgar-**_

"Rrgh, fuck my life! Fuck my life sideways, up the ass, with something hard and sandpapery, _right now_!"

Chase spared a slightly disgusted look at his lover, stating matter-of-factly, "There's no need for such _vulgar_ language, Spicer; what are you having trouble with?"

Jack shoved the piece of paper in his lover's face, growling, "This fuckin' essay worksheet is driving me batshit! I'm a mathematical thinker, not a literary one! I can't _do_ this friggin' thing!" The goth then paused in his rant, turning back to the dragon warlord and prompting, "Well? What do you think?"

Chase took one quick look at the sheet before handing it back to the albino and answering, "Fuck your life sideways."

_**354. Package-**_

Jack was _sick_ of this.

He had been married off to a wealthy business man by his parents in order to ensure a company merger, and that _might_ not have been so bad, but the rotten fucker was never home, leaving him trapped: practically single, but bound by law to a man whose first name he couldn't even remember.

It was sheer _hell_ and the young man was _beyond_ frustrated with it by now.

A knock on the door summoned him from his place on the couch (watching soaps and eating potato chips, the pathetic existence he was now forced to suffer daily) and upon answering it, Jack stopped just shy of staring openly at the handsome man before him, wearing a uniform and holding a box.

"Package for a Mr. Jack Grayson?" The younger man inspected the newcomer, noting the nametag before inviting, "Yes, that's me; why don't you...come inside for a bit, Chase? It's awfully hot out here, isn't it?"

Easily picking out the blatant undertone of lust in the housewife's voice, the Chinese man stepped inside and shut the door, laying down the package and curling a strong arm around the younger man's waist as he quipped with a predatory grin, "I get the feeling it's going to get _much_ hotter in here..."

_**355. Hunger-**_

It was commonplace for Spartan men to subjugate their women, particularly those they were long involved with, to make them feel inferior.

Jack, therefore, absolutely _loved_ it when Chase announced his hunger by smacking the smaller male on the rear and demanding his dinner be made, because it said to him that the warrior saw their relationship as intimate, something akin to marriage, and so whenever Chase showed his mastery over his lover like that, Jack blushed and smiled shyly before dashing off to do as he was told.

_**356. Advertisement-**_

"Ugh, that stupid commercial made me hungry..."

Chase stared at Jack in mild disgust. "An advertisement for _tick cream_ made you hungry, Spicer?"

"Yeah," the goth shrugged, dragging himself up off of the couch, "I'm just gonna go in the kitchen and mix some cottage cheese and mayonnaise together and eat it."

And then the warlord was pretty sure he'd be sick right then and there.

_**357. Sanctuary-**_

Jack was calmed, comforted by the fact that he could always find sanctuary in his lover's arms.

_**358. Break-Up-**_

"Hello, there; you look a bit lonely. Can I buy you a drink?"

Jack looked up, sniffling slightly and rubbing a few stray tears away from his eyes as he answered, "Oh. Yeah, thanks. That's really nice of you."

The stranger looked him up and down before demanding, "What has a pretty young thing like you crying?"

Forcing down more sobs at the memory, Jack choked out, "My boyfriend. He...I just got dumped."

"Well, he's a fool, whoever he is," the man declared. "If you were mine, I'd _never_ let someone as sexy as you get away."

Ignoring the warning signs in his head screaming that he was on the rebound and should avoid getting back into a relationship so soon, the young man blushed coyly, flirting back, "Thanks, you're not too bad-looking yourself, you know."

The man grinned, pleased with the compliment as he thanked, "I'm glad you think so. I just went through a bad break-up myself, so my confidence is a bit sub-par, lately. Then again, psychotic women will say _anything_ when they're angry, I suppose."

Smiling softly, Jack put his hand on the other's, introducing, "My name's Jack."

"Chase," the older male replied, "pleased to meet you, Jack."

The goth was quiet for a short moment, gathering his nerve before speaking, "This...this is going to sound presumptuous since we just met and all, but...I feel like we kinda have a...a connection or something. Would you like to...I don't know, come back to my place for a couple of drinks?"

Chase smiled invitingly, placing his hand on the youth's thigh (not in a sexual way, really, but in a pleasant, 'just-kind-of-there' way) as he accepted, "I'd love to, Jack..."

_**359. Assignment-**_

Jack never thought he'd think it, but he was _immensely_ glad for his history teacher's partner project.

After all, if it hadn't been assigned, he never would have forsaken research on medieval battering rams for an entirely different kind of ramming, and he and his project partner, Chase Young, probably wouldn't be going steady now.

_**360. Beneath-**_

Chase had always known that Jack Spicer was beneath him.

As far as he was concerned, that was exactly the place he _belonged_.

--

**A/N:** _**Stretches- **_**...Gumbi is cool. XD Oh, and before anyone says the thing Jack did is impossible, I do it everyday, like 20 something times, 'cause I probably have issues with my spinal cord(back and neck pain), and somehow I think it's migrated into my shoulders as well, and doing that makes it feel better. :)**

_**Calculate-**_** Jack is good at math; Chase doesn't care **_**how**_** good he is, there will be **_**no**_** complicated calculations after smexing! XD**

_**Vulgar-**_** I often say this phrase when upset or angered by something I can't do, oddly enough, mostly during my chemistry class. -.-"**

_**Package-**_** Yup, Jack is fucking the UPS man; it's finally happened. XD**

_**Hunger-**_** I was originally going to do another Galder/Dave one, but then I decided that I should get back to basics, and thusly Chase/Jack, because honestly, that's what chack is by definition, and I should probably stick with more of the main pairing. :)**

_**Advertisement-**_** I figure Jack is probably weird like that, but unfortunately, Chase does not appreciate his...unique tastes. Frankly, neither do I, although one time, I did eat a piece of carrot cake, swiftly followed by a couple of pickles. o.0 I suppose that's pretty weird, too.**

_**Sanctuary- **_**No comment. -.-**

_**Break-Up-**_** Go, Chase, get 'im on the rebound! He'll put out quicker! XD**

_**Assignment**_**- Wow. Bad innuendo. I tell myself I'm not going to do any more bad jokes for awhile, and then I compensate with bad innuendos. -.-"**

_**Beneath-**_** No comment. -.-**


	37. Chapter 37

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**361. Invasion-**_

Chase gave a deep, amused laugh as he idly toyed with the thin, spindly antennae that sprouted from his lover's skull, the bases of which were hidden by the pathetic, easily-dominated creature's red-orange hair.

"You must be the worst invader ever, Jack," he decided.

"Nuh-uh," the young alien boy protested vehemently, red, pupil-less eyes (four, two on each side) glaring at the human man in offense, "what about that Zim-guy? He's pretty suckish..."

_**362. Fumes-**_

Chase shifted Jack's dead-weight form in his arms, thinking only of how blatantly corrupt this school was.

One of the students, here because of obscenely rich parents, had mixed two wrong chemicals together in the science lab and caused a minor explosion, the fumes of which had knocked Jack, here on a scholarship because of mental prowess alone, out cold.

The rich student had gotten off scot-free, and here Chase was, carrying Jack to the nurse, after which the goth would be suffering two weeks of detention for, quite obviously, nothing.

It was just plain stupid.

A soft moan tore Chase from his reverie, and he looked down to see red eyes foggy and hazed, but nonetheless open. "...Chase?" The older teen nodded, and Jack smiled drowsily before slurring, "Love you..._so_ much..." before promptly falling back into unconsciousness.

Golden eyes widened at the 'out-of-it' statement in mild shock.

Well.

Now, _that_ was interesting.

Looking the youth over carefully, Chase tried to gauge how _he_ felt about Jack: the pale, paraffin complexion, the thin, wiry body now cuddled up against his own, the bright red hair and eyes, and of course, who could forget that sharp, clever mind of his?

Chase then came to a realization: when Jack came to and was given a clean bill of health, he would most _definitely_ be making use of the younger's attraction to him.

_**363. Hackers-**_

General Young sighed as he walked away from the tech lab of his military base, his lover's, "01001001 01101100011011110111011001100101 011110010110111101110101 00100001" still echoing in the halls.

Damned hackers.

Couldn't they just say, "I love you!" like everyone else?

_**364. Infiltrate-**_

"And then the evil demon platypi will infiltrate the temple once gravity is restored, and-"

"I've heard enough," Chase interrupted, "that is _the_ single most convoluted, absolutely _insane_ scheme I've ever heard in all my years."

Jack blinked slowly, eyes wide and owlish. "Sooo...you don't like it?"

"Are you mad, Spicer?!" the warlord demanded with stern expression before a wicked grin took his face. "I _love_ it; they'll never see it coming."

_**365. Helpless-**_

The black leopard gave a rough growl at the young, white stag in front of him, causing the easily-frightened creature, quivering and backing away slowly, to give a soft snort of terror.

Chase couldn't help but feel how _scared_ his prey was, far moreso than any other creature he'd hunted; hell, it was palpable!

There was something about this animal that made Chase forget entirely about hunting...

Really, though, _nothing_ should be _that_ helpless!

Making up his mind, the big cat pounced, tackling the stag to the ground before locking his jaws dominantly around his neck and dragging him to his hooves.

Giving a rough nudge to the creature's flank to get him moving where he wanted him to, Chase figured it'd be a _long_ time in teaching the timid, young creature some semblance of confidence, but until then, he would protect the deer from everything else.

_**366. Experimentally-**_

"Well, it's _totally_ experimental, so I don't...exactly know what'll happen, but...you know, by all means, give it a shot, sir."

Chase gave the rifle in his hands a considering look before test-firing it, pleased to see the projectile clea seven miles and explode, destroying everything in a five-mile radius. "Good work, Spicer," the lieutenant commended, patting the young weapon's developer on the shoulder, "you will go _very_ far in this business. I honestly wasn't expecting someone as green as yourself to take so well to such a field as war."

Jack's eyes lit up despite the discomfort of the uniform he was wearing, and he smiled up at the older man. "Thank you, sir, I'll do my best to give you only perfection, I promise!"

With a smirk, Chase spoke, "I would accept nothing less."

_**367. Villain-**_

"You know what I like about us, Chase?"

"Hmm?" the warlord prompted, utterly content to just lie in bed with his lover as dawn broke, pleasantly warm and still tired, but with absolutely no pressure to wake up.

"There's none of that 'Romeo and Juliet' crap, or 'forbidden love' hibbety-jibbety; we're both on the same side, you know? Both villains; we can be together without people questioning how or why and junk."

Chase was tempted to point out that Jack was a lousy villain anyways, but it was _far_ too early to endure one of his mate's hissy fits, and so he simply snuggled closer to the goth, allowing the youth to fall back asleep to the gentle stroking of his hand along his back before the everlord himself rejoined his lover in slumber.

_**368. Deadlock-**_

They had been in a deadlock for days, endless torturous hours, painful minutes, and agonizing seconds when Chase finally cracked.

"Fine," he snarled at long last, "if it will end this, I'll say it: Dave the Barbarian is the best television show that ever was and ever will be!"

Jack's eyes brightened, and he soundly kissed his lover before teasing, "Now, was that so hard?"

_**369. Wolf-**_

Jack gave a soft whine as his mate mounted him, causing the large alpha to pause, demanding, "What's wrong, lover?"

The younger wolf squirmed out from underneath the heavy body on top of his, dropping to lay on his belly, paws over his eyes. "I don't deserve this," he whimpered. "You should be mating with your alpha-female, having pups with _her_, not a worthless omega..."

A dominating growl made Jack look up, only for a yelp to escape his throat as the scruff of his neck was caught in his pack leader's jaws, bitten at harshly to demand his complete and utter submission. "You _aren't_ the omega anymore, Jack," Chase snarled, "you _are_ my alpha-female, and if the moon should bless us, it will be _you_ with whom I have pups! I'm sick of this spinelessness that's been instilled in you, lover. You no longer eat last, your authority is only second to mine, and no one but me is allowed to attack or dominate you on pain of death! You are my _mate_ now, Jack; do you understand that?"

A shivery feeling took hold of the white wolf as he looked into his dark-furred lover's golden eyes, and even though all of this was still weird to him, he brushed his muzzle against Chase's neck affectionately, answering, "Yeah, Chase: I'm your mate, now."

_**370. Nauseous-**_

"Nnh...Chase..." Jack gave a pleased sigh as the pathetic whine of the name reaped a fruitful harvest, the albino feeling the claws of a scaly hand raking soothingly through his hair, and he decided he was lucky to have such a supportive lover.

Anyone else would have gotten fed up with these (minimally) twice-a-week migraines, his sensitivity to light and sound, pained moaning, groaning, and whining, and the fact that he often got nauseous because of the wicked, demon-headaches, but Chase sat in the dark with him, whispered soft words of consolation while he massaged his lover's throbbing temples, and even carried him to the bathroom when he felt like he'd be sick.

The older mutant said it was only fair for the way that Jack loved him openly despite his freakish reptilian appendages, but the young seer was nonetheless grateful.

--

**A/N:** _**Invasion- **_**Ok, I love Invader Zim as much as the next guy...girl...whatever, but, I mean, come on: he's not very good at what he does. Jack's determined to be at least some kind of decimal amount of an ounce better than him, so he's admitted his deep-running feelings for a human, unlike certain Irken invaders I could mention... T.T You know what I mean, right? :wink, wink, nudge, nudge: XD**

_**Fumes-**_** Jack plus weird-chemical-reaction equals **_**very**_** loose lips, my friends: he will say whatever the hell he wants. He's like a child or a drunk person...or a drunk child-person. XD But, in this case, loose lips do not sink ships; they allow long-term relationships to become possible. :D**

_**Hackers-**_** ...Like I've said on many occasions before: I'm a** **sucker for accuracy.**

**'010010010110110001101111011101100110010101111001011011110111010100100001' actually **_**does**_** mean 'I love you!'**

**You may ridicule me now for my insanity. -.-**

_**Infiltrate-**_** ...I'm insane; this is the only answer for even the tidbit of plan I invented for Jack to say, and I'm even **_**more**_** insane for making Chase think its a good idea. -.-"**

_**Helpless-**_** No comment. -.-**

_**Experimentally-**_** Soldier!chack, a relatively new idea for me. I'm not sure if this is centered in any factual wars, but if anything, it'd probably be a cross between World War I and World War II, because that's what I'm learning about in my history class right now, and I don't put being subconsciously inspired by that past myself.**

_**Villain- **_**Now, I'm not saying anything bad about the 'forbidden love' concept, because I myself have a few examples of it in my yaoi arsenal(Alucard/Anderson of Hellsing, Kurt/Todd of X-Men Evolution, Francis/Richie of Static Shock, etc.) but these days, it's getting a little tired, namely in mary-sue fics. As I can personally say I know what its like to be a mary-sue writer and not realizing it, I know how tempting it is to have a good girl fall in love with a bad boy and then angst about, idk, betraying her family or her friends by liking him or whatever and I can't totally fault the people who do it constantly save for this fact: while I thought about it often, I never did it. It can be resisted. Although there **_**are**_** some 'forbidden love' fics that are actually quite well-written. :) Anyways, though, that's enough rambling on my part, but in case you're wondering, even when I wrote mary-sue stuff, I didn't use the typical spelling short-cuts (things such as 'wat' in place of 'what') I never used stuff like, "OMG" or "OMIGAWD" etc, and I always spell-checked everything, as if that makes it any better. XD**

_**Deadlock-**_** I've re-fallen in love with Dave the Barbarian in case you can't tell. I have all of the episodes taped (supposedly 22 episodes, but I'm 99.999 percent sure one of them was never aired, so 21) and I've been watching 'em lately. :D If you've never seen it (which seems somewhat impossible with the way I've been pushing it on you guys) they still show reruns on Toon Disney at 4:00 AM if you want to stay up and watch it. :)**

_**Wolf**_**- I've always found pack-structure among wolves interesting, but that's a bit besides the point right now; all I'm going to say is that 'alpha' refers to the higest status within the pack, and 'omega' refers to the lowest, and omega wolves are forced to eat last and are often harrassed by other members of the pack because they're at the bottom-wrung of the social ladder.**

_**Nauseous-**_** This is a continuation of **_**Oracle**_** from Chapter 12, because let's face it: it needed one. :D Damn, though, I wish I had someone like Chase around when **_**I **_**used to get those kinds of migraines. ;.; They **_**really **_**sucked, and I knew I was going to have one about an hour or half-an-hour before I would because whenever I would look at words, random parts of the letters would be blurred out by light (the splotchy kind you get in your eye when you stare at a bright light for a little while), and I couldn't read anything, so I would just go, "Aw, dammit." and without fail, anywhere from 30-60 minutes later, BAM! Nightmarish migraine. -.- Thankfully, I haven't gotten one in about a year, now, so I'm hoping it'll stay that way. :)**

**And that's Chapter 37 of Anthology of Love, so thanks for reading! :D**


	38. Chapter 38

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**371. Silence-**_

Chase was highly pleased.

He hadn't had to use the duct tape to achieve his desired silence for going on two weeks now. It seemed like the albino _could_ be trained, after all!

"Chase, can we get one of those weiner dogs? I'll take care of it and everything, feed it, clean up after it, take it for walks around the citadel; it'd be great, you know? Its first name could be Oscar and its last name'd be Mayer, and on Halloween we could put a bun on it and spray red and yellow squiggly lines on his back with spray-paint, and..."

...Nevermind.

Jack Spicer was untrainable.

_**372. Moo-**_

"This may be the sheer most irresponsible and just plain _stupidest_ thing you've ever done," the warlord ranted in a fury, " and with you, that's _saying_ something!"

Jack took a casual, slurping sip of his milkshake, as if totally unaware of the absolute disarray of his lover's palace around him, the shattered bits of glass and other debris strewn over the floor, several big cats unconscious or intoxicated by catnip, and the mysterious, clear liquid in random puddles on the ground.

"Hey, easy, Chase," he soothed, "don't have a cow."

Upon then looking at his milkshake and realizing that there was _also_ a picture of a cow on it, Jack giggled before stating, "_Moo_."

Chase roared in blind rage, kicking over a passed-out warrior from frustration.

_**373. Baby-**_

Jack gasped as he felt large hands working the tense muscles of his shoulders into submission, leaning back into his lover's chest with a relaxed sigh.

"Hey, Chase," he practically purred, eyes sliding shut from the pleased calm that resonated from his core, "what's with the visit?"

The goth was a bit concerned when his beloved didn't immediately reply, but he soon heard the firm statement of, "I've been thinking, Jack..."

Cracking an eye open, the teen questioned, "Yeah?"

It seemed that the warlord was hesitant to broaching whatever it was that he wanted to say, but it was soon overcome, and Chase demanded, "Let's have a baby."

"Wh-what?!" Jack sputtered in surprise, whirling about to face the older man. "You serious?!"

"As a heart-attack," Chase assured, "I want to have a child with you."

"But-but-but-but...why? _How?_" Jack's tone was that of one helplessly confused.

"You are the first one with whom I've been so deeply and so long involved, and I would like an heir from you." Chase's tone, on the other hand, was calm, collected, and casual, as if he _wasn't_ talking about something that was a big deal.

"And as I see it, there are a number of ways _how_; first, the question is: would you want to? I won't force you into anything, rabbit."

Jack took a moment to think about it and briefly pictured a family scene, a faceless child in his arms and a tender look on his face, Chase behind him with his hands on his shoulders as he softly nuzzled his younger lover's throat, pleased with the small family he had been given.

An intense warmth welled up in his chest at the mental image, and though he knew it would be hard to raise a child, Jack was unable to force down the sudden sheer _want_ of it.

"I want to," he decided. "But how are we gonna-"

"Hush, mate," Chase coaxed, scooping the youth into his lap and petting his hair, "like I said, there is more than one way for us to have a family, and it will be your choice how we will go about it."

Jack was touched at the responsibility given to him by his lover, and so listened carefully as the man continued.

"We could adopt, first of all."

The albino considered this, but soon declined, "No. It'd be nice to save an orphan and all, but...it seems impersonal to me, y'know? It would just be some stranger's kid, not really ours."

"Fair enough," Chase accepted, proposing, "then perhaps we could use a surrogate-"

"Hell no!" Jack outright refused, "I don't want some slut touching you, even if it _is_ for a baby, and I doubt you'd stand it if it was the other way around!"

"True, lover, true," Chase agreed, calming the younger male with a quick kiss, "there is one other way..."

Jack was puzzled: how else could they, a homosexual couple, get a child?

"We could try the natural approach: you could conceive."

"Huh?" the goth gaped dumbly, "What do you mean, 'conceive'? Like...get pregnant?"

"Yes, 'get pregnant'," Chase scoffed, "it wouldn't take much magic to make it possible for that to happen, and, of course, I would make sure it would be entirely safe; what do you think of that one, rabbit?"

Jack breathed deeply for a long moment, eyes wide; he could...get pregnant? Have a baby naturally?

...wow.

"I like it, " Jack decided, "let's do that one."

Chase was clearly pleased with the goth's choice, and he snaked a hand down to lay flat on his lover's stomach, kissing him roughly as a dark glow lit up his hand.

Jack moaned low in his chest at the weird feeling that began to emanate from his middle; it didn't _hurt_, per se, it was just...well, _weird_.

The man pulled away, the albino blinking up at him even as Chase plainly stated, "You are able to conceive, now, Jack. Would you like a minute to get used to the feeling, or do you want to begin trying for a little one now?"

Chase's answer was a smoldering, lustful look before Jack pounced on him, already tearing off clothes.

_**374. Mouth-**_

Chase absolutely reveled in the fact that Jack was a 'messy' eater.

"You've got a bit of chocolate sauce of your lip, Spicer..."

"Really?" the goth chirped in surprise, wiping at where he guessed the syrupy liquid was (and his guess, mind you, was wrong).

Chase chuckled darkly, tugging Jack closer and graciously offering, "I'll get it for you," before leaning forward to take his lover's bottom lip into his mouth, suckling lightly at it until the rich, chocolate flavor was gone.

Jack, face lightly flushed from the unexpected action, suddenly obtained a sly look and grabbed the bottle of chocolate sauce before tugging on the collar of his shirt and pouring some of it down along his chest, ignoring the slight shiver that wracked his body at the chill of the substance.

"Oh, Chase, look!" he exclaimed in faux dismay. "I spilled it all down my shirt, too!"

The warlord growled lustfully, practically tearing off his lover's shirt and licking a hot, chocolatey trail from Jack's flat stomach up to his collarbone, prompting a weak groan from the goth before he roughly tore the bottle from pale, calloused hands and tugged at the youth's waistband, squeezing a good amount of syrup out and making Jack yelp at the cold.

"Why, look at that, mate," Chase 'tsk'-ed, "you've even managed to get it in your underwear!" Putting on the air of someone being forced to do something troublesome, he continued, "I _suppose_ I'll have to lick you clean, now..."

And then it was Jack who was glad for his 'messy' eating habits.

_**375. Fury-**_

"Chase, you're such an unbelievable _bastard_!" Jack snarled at his lover, "Here I am, fucking seven months _pregnant_, 'cause _you_ fucking wanted a kid, and you don't even mother-fucking _listen_ to me!"

Where any sensible mortal would run in terror at the goth's wild, hormone-induced fury, Chase got right in front of his lover, dropping to his knees to nuzzle affectionately at Jack's heavily-pregnant stomach as he apologized, "I'm sorry, mate, I was preoccupied with the monks; if it still means something to you, I'll listen now."

A soft whimper escaped the albino's throat at the caring gesture, and he, too, collapsed to the floor, whining as he held back tears upon Chase's cuddling of him up against the man's strong chest. "Oh, gawd, Chase, I'm _so_ sorry! I'm such an awful _bitch_, lately! You should just kick me out, or something!"

Chase was sure to keep his tone gentle as he cradled the teen's swollen belly with one arm, assuring, "Never, Jack; I'll _always_ put up with you."

The goth sniffled slightly, wiping away a few tears that had gotten free before falling silent.

"......I'm a little horny..."

Chase grinned, taking his lover's lips hungrily even as he internally cackled.

It was _all_ about knowing how to deal with the mood swings...

_**376. Wizard-**_

Jack leapt into his master's lap, gratified to feel Chase's gloved fingers scratching affectionately at his head, rubbing over his fluffy white ears and drawing a deep purr from his throat.

Maybe soon, the dark wizard would realize that he wasn't really a kitten and change him back into a human!

If and when he did...maybe...maybe the cursed boy could finally tell Chase how he felt...

_**377. Rattles-**_

Jack smiled fondly as Salem giggled in his arms, her small, chubby hands shaking a black and red rattle back and forth with absolute delight.

His little girl was _so_ precious!

Chase chose that moment to sneak up on the new mother, an arm curling around Jack's waist (careful of the tender area with the Caesarian scar) and turning the younger's face to his for a loving kiss.

Pulling away after a moment, the warlord turned his gaze to the dark-haired baby in his mate's arms, meeting the bright, mismatched red-and-gold eyes (only one affected with albinism and the poor sight that went with it) as he questioned, "And how is my lovely gem of a daughter today?"

"Oh, she's just fine," Jack assured, bouncing Salem up and down slightly to the young girl's delight, "she grew a tail for ten minutes earlier and smacked Diol in the face with it, and she got a little chew-happy on Jeza's tail with her new fangs."

Chase laughed loudly and openly at the regaling of Salem's antics upon his unfortunate warriors, and gently rubbed a gloved hand over her small head, praising, "She'll be a fierce warrior one day; you've given me a strong child, Jack."

A thrill of pride shot through the albino's heart, and he easily allowed Chase to put his arms around him lovingly. Eyes fixed firmly on his- _their_ child, he happily muttered, "Yeah, I guess I did..."

_**378. Octopus-**_

Chase froze upon opening a door in his palace, seeing his lover surrounded by three clowns, nine monkeys, and one octopus on his head while he juggled bowling pins on a unicycle, eyes wide and an expression that screamed 'guilty' at being caught doing...whatever this was.

The warlord, saying not a word, shut the door and walked away.

_**379. Incapable-**_

Chase had thought himself incapable of emotion, unable to feel.

Then, of course, he had stumbled upon one Jack Spicer in an abusive relationship, and it was then that he realized he still felt many things: rage upon seeing the bruises and cuts littered over the albino's stark-white skin, jealousy at every touch of the aggressive male to what he now recognized as _his_ Jack, indignity towards seeing the teen take all the abuse thrown at him and still allow that _scum_ to kiss him, and then finally, satisfaction while he lay in bed with his new lover, the goth curled up and asleep against him as he gazed with a smirk out his window at the gruesomely-tortured, bloody head on a pike outside.

_No one_ fucked with Chase Young's property.

_**380. Gnome-**_

Chase growled upon returning from a brief outing, and he immediately teleported to his lover's room, snatching the goth up by the front of his shirt and demanding, "Why is there a _gnome_ out in front, Spicer?!"

Jack's tone was completely innocent as he answered, "The flamingo was _lonely_."

--

**A/N:** _**Silence- **_**I **_**really**_** want to get a weiner dog and do all that stuff Jack was talking about, with the name, and the Halloween, and...yeah. 0.o**

_**Moo-**_** If anyone's wondering, Naruto the Abridged Series, Episode 2, at the end:**

_**Hokage: Kakashi! We need to end on something funny; pick up that milk!**_

_**Kakashi: Yes, sir! Ha ha, it has a picture of a cow on it. Ha ha ha, 'moo'.**_

**XD**

_**Baby-**_** Because there's not enough mpreg for chack in general, and the only two I've done in this story already were barely anything. -.- Oh, and also? Matt was reading this aloud (with my mother present, by the way), and he misread Chase's line, "I won't force you into anything" as "I won't force anything into you" ...I was ready to kill him, I swear, I would've if he wasn't, like, 2 feet taller than me, a guy, and there weren't so many witnesses present. -.-" Stupid Matt... :shakes head disparagingly: But, thankfully, we all just laughed hysterically at it(my mom's cool like that, and she already knew I like yaoi), and no one got in trouble. :D**

_**Mouth-**_** ...I like chocolate. Don't you? XD**

_**Fury-**_** Continuation of **_**Baby. **_**Jack is tortured by his hormones, and Chase is a smooth operator for knowing how to handle it. XD**

_**Wizard-**_** Oh noes, someone has turned Jack into a kitty (my bet's on fairy-tale!Wuya)! And its up to Chase to figure out that Jack is actually a human so that he can change him back, 'cause otherwise, they'll just be wizard and pet cat instead of being lovers and making sweet, sweet love down by the fire! XD**

_**Rattles- **_**Continuation of **_**Baby **_**and **_**Fury**_**; Salem is my favorite name for a girl (Jack's my favorite for a boy ;D) so I had to make Chase and Jack's baby 'Salem'. Other than that...AREN'T THEY PRECIOUS?! XD**

_**Octopus-**_** Don't even ask, I don't know either, but Chase made a good move: just walk away. -.-**

_**Incapable**_**- I don't know why, I've just always been attracted to the idea of Jack moving on from his unreciprocated crush on Chase and smacking headfirst into an abusive relationship, thus prompting Chase to get really-super-jealous/angry and kill him. It sorta keeps them in character: Jack has bad luck in love and doesn't fight back, and Chase is uber-danerous and wouldn't admit his feelings for Jack until something happened to make it necessary.**

_**Gnome-**_** This is a continuation of **_**Flamingo**_** from Chapter 2 (holy crap, is it really Chapter 38 already?). Jack likes putting random lawn decorations in front of the citadel, much to Chase's chagrin; it makes it look less manly and pwnsom3. XD**

**And that's the end of Chapter 38 (posted the same day as Chapter 37), so thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it! :D**


	39. Chapter 39

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**381. Shield-**_

Just before the deadly blast of energy hit, Jack leapt in front of his lover, shielding the man with his body before collapsing to the ground in a smoking pile of black.

Chase muttered a disbelieving, "No..." before dropping to his knees and scooping the teenager's limp body into his arms, demanding, "Jack, no! You...you cannot leave me here in this hellhole of a world, you rotten imbecile!"

The goth gave a weak smile, blood trailing from the edge of his mouth even as a tear landed with a quiet splash on his cheek, Chase abruptly realizing it was _he_ who was crying.

"S-sorry, Chase," the goth whispered, "I'm not-" Jack abruptly winced with a grunt, pained by talking, "I'm just not strong enough to stay..."

And then the life faded from the albino's eyes, and the last breath he would ever take left his chest.

Chase shot up in bed with a shaky gasp, immediately looking to his right to check on his mate and exhaling a relieved sigh upon seeing the teen safely snuggled under the silken sheets, sleeping sweetly next to him.

This had long been Chase's nightmare: that Jack's ever-reliable cowardice would fail in the face of Chase's potential death, and that the goth would surrender his own life to preserve his lover's.

With a hard determination, Chase lay back down, holding Jack against him tightly as he decided he would _never_ let that happen.

_**382. Superhero-**_

"So, Chase, how does it feel to have just slept with the most powerful man alive?"

"Hmm," the military man considered, "a little itchy; you probably gave me some sort of disease, you whore."

"Hey," Jack protested indignantly, "I _told_ you already, I've never had an STD!"

"Coming from the entrepreneur voted 'Biggest Player of the Year' by every pop-culture magazine in print," Chase quipped.

"Oh, yeah, well, you know what? Maybe I was wrong to actually let you stay, then. Jarvi-"

Chase quickly took the wealthy young man's lips, cutting off the commanding shout of the robotic butler's name with his mouth and tongue before chuckling as he pulled away, "I was just teasing, Jack; I trust you."

The younger of the two sighed, allowing himself to relax back against the bed and his lover's chest. There was silence in the large, richly-beautiful bedroom for a moment before Chase's fingers found and lightly skimmed over a bloody-looking bruise on Jack's shoulder, one of the results of the final battle he'd had with his controlling major-domo, Hannibal, and his mood became utterly solemn and serious.

"Iron Man, Jack?" he demanded. "A _superhero_? How long is this going to go on?"

"As long as I'm needed," Jack firmly decided (in Chase's opinion, stubbornly).

"But with your _identity_ known? Your enemies could go after all of your loved ones-"

"Psh," the younger scoffed, "_what_ loved ones?"

Obscenely rich men were notorious for being mostly loners.

"What about Ashley?"

"She's just an assistant," Jack stated, "I have no emotional stock in her."

"Wuya?" the man tried.

"A pushy one-night-stand that won't leave me alone; I'd be _glad_ if someone got rid of her for me."

Chase was silent for a moment before questioning, "What about me?"

"Oh..." Jack realized, eyes widening marginally as he admitted, "I hadn't thought of that...well, don't worry, Chase, I'll do everything in my power to protect you."

The military man paused as an idea came to him, his mind flashing back to the silver prototype suit he had seen in his lover's lab, and he corrected, "No need, Jack," thus prompting a confused stare from the filthy-rich young man. "I think I can protect myself just fine..."

_**383. Identity-**_

Finally catching up with the thief, Chase caught hold of one thin, black-clothed wrist and tugged hard, slamming the figure roughly up against a hard, damp alley-wall and pinning him there with his body.

The precinct had been after this guy for months, and now he finally had him!

Wasting no time, a logical, efficient officer at heart, Chase tore away the criminal's cloth mask, soon feeling his jaw drop at the now-revealed identity. _"Jack?"_

His cousin Wuya's adopted son?

The teen, a slightly panicked look on his face at being recognized, quickly produced a taser from his pocket, giving the older man a just-shy-of-fatal dose of electricity before running off as Chase collapsed on the rain-wet floor of the alley.

Vision foggy and consciousness hazy, the man nonetheless made a firm decision that he would be telling his superiors that he hadn't been able to catch a glimpse of the thief's face before he'd escaped and that later he'd be having a very firm, _very_ serious discussion with Jack about all this before finally losing his battle with the blackness at the edges of his awareness and passing out cold on the ground.

_**384. Degrades-**_

When Chase had first broached the idea of taking Jack from behind, the teen had screeched and shrieked in the negative, denouncing it vehemently and claiming how degrading it would be to him and 'wasn't normal sex enough for him?!'

After being shown the positives of the position, however (admittedly somewhat against his will), the goth became a cooing puddle of mush as he snuggled against his lover, praising Chase for getting him to try it and _insisting_ they give a few other positions a try as well, the subject of purchasing one infamous 'Kama Sutra' coming up more than once.

_**385. Tech-**_

Upon seeing nine monkeys scamper out of his closet, screeching loudly, Chase decided it was time to ask.

"What on _Earth_ were you doing yesterday, Spicer?"

"Oh, you mean glocketeosiring?"

"...Pardon?"

"Yeah," the goth assured, "glocketeosiring: the thing with the monkeys, and the clowns, and the unicycle and stuff; its all the rage these days."

"...I sorely doubt _that_," the warlord scoffed, "but aren't you afraid of clowns?"

"Psh, duh!" Jack scoffed right back, "But they're not real." The genius of all-things-tech pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button, calling attention to three dancing clowns now in the room. "I don't have to be scared of 'em, 'cause I know I can just push a button and make 'em go away." Demonstrating, Jack pressed the button again, and a crackle of electricity sounded, signifying the clowns' departure, only for red eyes to go wide, a teenage heartbeat suddenly sky-rocketing.

One of the clowns was still there, blinking back at him.

A feminine shriek nearly pierced Chase's eardrums, the slight weight of his lover's body landing in the warlord's arms as Jack nearly cried (in such a pitch that anyone but his lover and certain species of dogs would have trouble hearing), "He's _real_! Save me, Chase!"

The man sighed, snapping his fingers to command two of his closest warriors to take care of the clown as he wondered when his mate would learn better.

_**386. Hardship-**_

Jack, as a prince, knew that cutting back on some of his luxuries would allow his subjects a better life, and he felt for their hardships, he really _did_!

But...people weren't starving in the streets or living in run-down, poor villages, or anything, and were in fact quite comfortable, so the young royal saw no reason to release his harem, _particularly_ that handsome man who had earned the rank of favored concubine.

But, oh, if his people knew how he spoiled that Chase, they would be _outraged_!

It was a good thing, then, that the eunuchs who handled the harem had had their tongues cut out in addition, now, wasn't it?

_**387. Bomb-**_

Chase could feel himself losing breath even as he inhaled, forcing him to come to the dreadful conclusion that the bomb had caused scrap metal to pierce his lungs.

There was no _way_ he was going to make it.

Compelled by sheer forced of will and despite the horrid weakness in his limbs, Chase blindly groped beside him until his found his beloved, tugging the young man's smaller body on top of his.

Jack, quite frankly, was in even worse shape than _he_ was as he'd been marginally closer to the bomb when it'd exploded. There was a fairly thick coating of blood smeared over his face from the hairline to the chin on his left side, his right hand was completely gone, leaving only a gruesome, bloody stump in its place, and against his abdomen, Chase could feel a sharp bit of metal protruding from his lover's stomach, the elder's hand on the albino's back feeling the rest of the large chunk of shrapnel poking through.

It was soon to be over for him, too.

Knowing there was no time (nor physical ability within himself) to waste his breath, Chase knew he had to be precise with his last words.

"I love you, my Jack," he managed to wheeze out huskily, cutting his remaining supply of oxygen even shorter, but it was worth it as the obviously-dazed and tired boy on top of him smiled softly, croaking out, "Love you, too, Chase."

The two soldiers, knowing that these were, without doubt, their last moments, allowed their lips to meet in a tender loving kiss before at last slipping away from the realm of the living in each other's arms, sealed in death within their truest of passions.

That was how their comrades found them the next morning after the battle, lips still connected in what was surely a testament to true love.

_**388. Burrito-**_

"Why would you take a job at Taco King?" Chase demanded of his lover, somewhat surprised to see him vehemently defend, "It's a whole inspiring experience! The food, the language, the culture; it's a beautiful melding of proud, glorious America and beautiful, traditional Mexico!"

He paused, pulling a wrap of meat and beans out of his pocket before adding, "Plus, you know, they give you free burritos if you work there!" then taking a savory bite of the food, even as Chase facepalmed, bemoaning the idiocy of his chosen lover.

_**389. Subscribe-**_

"What?!" Chase roared, furious. "That's impossible!"

"Sorry, Chase, but _Black As Your Soul_ magazine never lies; you scored a 5/12 on the 'Are You Really Evil?' test."

An angry growl rumbled from the man's chest, and he snarled, "Am _I_, the prince of darkness, meant to believe a two-cent subscription magazine that tells me such lies?! What could _you_ have possibly scored, then, a negative 16?!"

"I got an 8."

"Absolutely impossible!" Chase denounced, "There's no way _you_ could _ever_ be more evil than I am, Spicer! Your precious, flimsy book of paper is nothing but garbage, an utter waste of the material its printed on-"

"Oh, wait a minute," Jack interjected the man's rant, "I made a mistake calculating; you actual score is...13/12, my bad."

Chase crossed his arms roughly, sitting on the couch as he pouted, "Now, _that's_ more like it...remind me never to let you take those silly little quizzes again, much less get _me_ involved."

"...wanna take the 'How Well Can You Please Your Emo Lover?' quiz?"

"Ask the questions, Spicer."

_**390. Knickerbockers-**_

"Kumquat."

"..."

"Tuberculosis."

"..."

"Macadamia."

"..."

Jack had insisted that every person on the planet had at least one word that set them off, pushed, as the goth had put it, their 'lolz button', and when Chase outright refused this fact in its application to him, the teen had decided he wouldn't rest until he found his lover's trigger word.

"Spatula."

"..."

"Pantaloons."

"..."

"Knickerbockers."

The words yielded a stifled noise from the warlord, and Jack smirked devilishly at the realization of his discovery. "Knickerbockers, knickerbockers, knickerbockers, knickerbockers!"

Chase finally caved, laughing loudly from the held-back hilarity at the ridiculous-sounding word and thus confirming to Jack that 'knickerbockers' was most definitely the word that pushed the warlord's 'lolz button'.

--

**A/N:** _**Shield- **_**Because I was feeling kinda emo, and whenever that happens, I kill Jack. -.- It's a bad habit, I know, but I just can't stop.**

_**Superhero-**_** In case you can't tell, I saw Iron Man just before I wrote this, so I had to incorporate it somehow, and now Jack is Iron Man/Tony Stark. Chase, also, is playing the role of Jim Rhodes/(future) War Machine , because...I don't know, he just is. XD**

_**Identity-**_** I honestly don't know why Jack is robbing places, but...he is, so Chase, as a policeman, has to have a talk with him about why stealing is wrong. I predict that Jack won't listen, and Chase will be forced to, ahem, pound it into him. ...Take that as you will. XD**

_**Degrades-**_** No comment.**

_**Tech-**_** Continuation of **_**Octopus**_** from the previous Chapter, because I needed to explain why Jack wasn't afraid of the clowns; I honestly meant to get this chapter out, like, directly after 38, but, of course, with my luck, stuff started happening that kept putting it all off and junk, so...here it is now, I guess! :D**

_**Hardship- **_**Chase as a harem boy: how awesome is that? And Jack is sure to keep him a pampered little bitch at all times, because god forbid the favored concubine be given anything less than perfection. XD**

_**Bomb-**_** I'm telling you, my mind is stuck in a war/battlefield/soldier spiral; I could have done something else, like something involving the phrase 'you da bomb' or whatever, which would have reduced the emo-level of this chapter, but **_**nooo**_**, I think of this. -.- Meh, w/e.**

_**Burrito**_**- Oh, Jack, you're so ridiculous! XD**

_**Subscribe-**_** No comment.**

_**Knickerbockers- **_**Most of these words I got from this one thing, you may have heard of it, 'Bulbous Bouffant', by The Vestibules if I recall correctly. There should be some stuff on Youtube for it, so look it up, it's pretty stupid-funny. XD**

**But, yeah, that's Chapter 39, so thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it! :D**


	40. Chapter 40

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

_**391. Absence-**_

Chase was honestly surprised, Jack having left on a family vacation to see some ancient Mayan temples the day before, at how empty and lonely his citadel was with the hyper youth's absence.

_**392. Closet-**_

"Chase?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"...I think it's time to come out of the closet."

"You're right, it's definitely time."

"...right now, I mean."

"I'll be right behind you."

The two teens took a deep breath before opening the door of the closet and stepping out into the hallway.

"Whoo," Jack sighed in relief at the clean air, "I thought the school would have to be fumigated! I can't believe a mousy girl like Lidia could do _that_!"

"Ugh," Chase scoffed in agreement, "that was heinous, horrendous, even!"

The goth giggled, giving his boyfriend a playful peck on the lips before stating, "I'd better get to class, now, baby; don't forget, my mom has _insisted_ upon meeting 'that young man I go on about all the time', so be at my house for dinner by 6:00, and wear something nice so you make a good impression, 'kay?"

Chase smirked back, "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Your mom sounds about as much of a pushover as my dad was when you met him."

The older boy then gave his lover a reassuring smile (which nearly made the goth melt) before heading off to his own class.

_**393. Anniversary-**_

"Love you, Chase."

The warlord gave a noise of acknowledgment, too preoccupied in his book to form an actual reply.

"Oh, and don't forget about my cousin's wedding; mom'll kill me if we don't at least make an appearance."

"Mmhm."

"And then there's that thing tomorrow with my aunt, the funeral for her pet snake Slithers, too."

"Mmhm."

"Okay, then," Jack sighed, "I guess I'll just go occupy myself elsewhere."

"Mmhm."

"Oh, and also, I shaved your cats."

"Mmh-what?!" Chase practically dropped his book in shock upon seeing one of his once-proud warriors walk into the room, completely bald save for a patch of fur left to spell out, "Jack Spicer was here, bitch" before standing to his full, intimidating height as he demanded, "Spicer, who in the name of the gods do you think you are?! What in the hell made you think you could get away with this?! Blatantly defacing my warriors like-"

"So you're annoyed?" the teen flatly interjected, causing Chase to snarl, "Of _course_ I'm annoyed you little twit!"

"Score!" Jack rejoiced, his fingers darting to his watch and pressing a button, thus revealing a hidden switch on the wall which he then wrenched down. A disco ball descended from the ceiling, the power cutting off the other lights as techno music began playing and confetti fell to the ground. "This marks the one millionth anniversary of something I've done having annoyed you," Jack informed his now-gaping lover with an excited grin, "I've been aiming for this for months! All the party guests have been called, and when they get here, it'll be party time, but soon," Jack smirked wickedly, "I'll be going for _two_ million..."

Chase, eyes wide, finally gave in to temptation and repeatedly banged his head against the wall.

_**394. Ambassador-**_

"Emperor, there is an ambassador from a land called 'Ireland' at the palace gates; he claims to come negotiating peaceful relations."

Chase crossed one leg over the other, giving a thoughtful 'hmm' before deciding, "I am in a pleasant mood: I will see the outsider; send him in."

After an expanse of time, the messenger returned, a young man in unfamiliar dress in tow. To the emperor's surprise, the ambassador moved to his knees in front of him, his pale body bent forward in a formal, respectful bow.

"My lord," the elder man could already hear the barest hint of a flowing, lyrical accent in the visitor's voice, "I come before you to humbly request an alliance between our nations, China and Ireland."

Pleased at being shown such proper respect from what he had been sure was a rude, ignorant foreigner, Chase smiled, inviting, "You may stand; what is your name, stranger?"

Rising to his feet, the red-haired youth greeted, "I am Jack Spicer. Emperor, will you hear my request?"

The man chuckled dismissively, scoffing, "Our nations are _far_ too distant; what makes you think I would even entertain such nonsense for any longer than a minute? I would much rather hear about _you_ than an alliance."

Jack got a determined look on his face and marched up to the emperor's throne, straddling the man's waist and assuring, a bit more of his accent slipping into his voice as he assured, "I'm not known as 'Ireland's most persuasive negotiator' for nothin', bub."

Before Chase could protest, the Irish youth's mouth was on his, the ambassador's talented, white hands sliding into the man's robes and down along his chest, worming their way even further down...

Several hours later, in a richly-decorated bedroom, Chase held himself up on one elbow, the fingers of his other hand dancing playfully over a snow-white stomach as he conceded, "Jack, I must admit: you make a strong argument. Very well, boy, I will ally with your Ireland, _provided_," he added at Jack's excited look, "that their good-will gift," a hand running suggestively along the youth's side made it perfectly clear that _he_ was the gift being referred to, "remains here with me..."

Jack knew an invitation when he heard one, and so snickered, taking Chase's hand and shaking it firmly before finally allowing his full accent to blend into his Chinese, "Ya've got yerself a deal, sir!"

_**395. Accounting-**_

"How could you _do_ this to me, Chase?! You lying, _cheating_ bastard! Your accountant?!" Wuya shrieked in furious disbelief, "That disgusting little fruit?!"

"Well, at least _he_ knows how to touch a man!" Chase shot back, just as heated in argument as his wife, "I believe the same can't be said for _you_!"

"Oh," Wuya gasped, horrified, before indignantly snarling, "well, my apologies for not knowing how to please a _faggot_ like you; maybe you'd have liked it better if I grew a twelve-inch cock and fucked you up the ass with it, _hmm_?!"

"Oh, no, my dear wife," Chase assured, "because fucking of any kind would have gotten you up off of your three-hundred-pound _ass_ and away from the tub of ice cream, and I would _never_ force the _Heifer_ Queen to do something so _terrible_!"

"That's it," the woman screeched, "I want a divorce!"

"Fine, you ugly whore," the man agreed, "that would be the first meaningful thing I've ever heard you say!"

"I'll _ruin_ you," Wuya promised, "I will take half of your things, _demolish_ your precious company, and everything you hold dear, I will destroy!"

Chase merely laughed at the statement. "Oh, you think so, don't you? It seems you've forgotten a key fact: before we were married, you signed a prenuptial agreement; you can't sue me for a _dime_."

As the woman gaped at him in horror, her entire, rich lifestyle already falling apart before her eyes at the remembrance, Chase smirked, demanding, "Get the hell out of my house, bitch."

Wuya growled and stomped out the door, the tires of her car heard screeching away from miles around; this wouldn't be the last of her, but she'd _definitely_ be gone for a while.

Jack, half-naked, cautiously peeked out from behind the bedroom doorway (where he had taken refuge from the psychotic woman's rage) before squeaking, "Is it safe yet?"

At his lover's timid question, Chase nodded and went to tend to the frightened young man, an arm curling around his thin waist and his nose nearly touching the younger's as he wondered aloud, "Now...where were we, Spicer?"

_**396. Battlesuit-**_

"Chase, I'm serious! I really _am_ a genius, you know!"

"Is that so?" the warlord questioned, an eyebrow raised. "If you were truly a genius, wouldn't you have created some sort of battlesuit that boosts your strength and gives your movements precision in order to combat the monks by now?"

"...oh, _damn_, that's a good idea! Why didn't _I_ think of that?"

Chase could do nothing but facepalm as Jack began rattling off things he would need and schematics he would have to draw up.

_**397. Difficulties-**_

"There were some..._difficulties_, sire: over twenty of our men were lost."

Chase frowned, growling, "But did you get it?!"

The soldier flinched, stuttering, "Y-y-y-yes, sire, we did; bring it out!"

A cage was rolled into the throne room, and Chase rose with a sharp inhalation of breath at the sight of the creature inside of it.

Soft, silky-looking fur covered the animal's body, turning black at the paws and the tips of its ears and tail. Red eyes sparkled like polished rubies, the same color tinging fluffy, feathered wings that fluttered every now and then from apprehension at being caged and in an unfamiliar setting, apprehension that was soothed by the sight of the king as he gently stroked a hand over the large, feline creature's muzzle, eliciting a soft, rumbling purr from the beast.

"Leave," Chase commanded his subjects, "I wish to be alone with my beautiful pet..."

As the men scampered away and left the room, Chase pressed a soft, gentle kiss to the cat's forehead. "My love," he whispered tenderly, "I will free you from this form, and you will be mine again."

No one knew that their current king had also been a king several centuries ago. No one knew that a witch had cursed him and his lover for their sinful relationship, the king with the inability to die and the lover with the form of a mystical animal. No one knew that the king had since practiced the black arts and wasted all of his efforts otherwise in order to capture his beloved and return him to his normal state.

No one knew any of this, but it wouldn't soon matter once their king announced some exciting news: his engagement and marriage to a lovely young man named Jack, who's eyes were red as rubies and skin was paler than snow.

_**398. Trial-**_

At first, when Jack had been tried and convicted of four counts of second degree murder, he'd been understandably scared.

However, upon beginning his sentence and being made a (very protective) serial killer's bitch, given every in-jail luxury there was to be had, the young man decided it wasn't so bad after all. "Hey, Chase," he greeted the man in the mess hall, "are you gonna 'rape' me tonight?"

"As surely as your body lacks pigmentation, lover," Chase assured, not even looking up from his gruel.

"Oh, no," Jack squealed in mock-fear, sitting down next to the man, "and will you be showering with me, too?"

"You _know_ I shall, Spicer," he scoffed, pulling the younger male closer by the waist.

Jack giggled, snuggling up against his beloved killer-of-many and nuzzling his neck affectionately. "Don't worry, baby," he assured, "I'll be sure to drop the soap just for you."

_**399. Error-**_

"Spicer!"

"Yes, master?" Jack questioned, red eyes firmly trained on the man who owned him.

"You are a service droid, aren't you?"

"Yes, master."

Chase looked down at the robotic teen with a stern expression. "And what exactly do you do around here?"

"I am programmed to complete daily 104 domestic tasks around your home, including various cleaning, cooking, and, should you have any foreign guests, I am versed in over 600 world dialects."

"Hm," Chase debated, "a service droid, and yet, you've never serviced _me_."

"I...master?"

The man approached the mechanical teen. "What are the physical differences between you and a regular human?"

"My skin is constructed of a specialized polymer, my hair-"

"In function _only_, Spicer."

"I don't breathe and I don't actually _have_bodily functions."

Chase grinned wickedly at his maid, grabbing him by the waist. "I found something interesting in your manual the other day," he said, "so I will put what I want from you in terms you can understand: I would like to overload your circuits by sexual stimulus."

His data banks giving him a visual of what that would entail, a simulated blush took Jack's cheeks, and his speech function seemed to be on the fritz as he answered, "O-oh...I...a-all right, master, I...I suppose it is within your right to do th-"

His sentence was cut off by the human's mouth on his, and when the kiss ended, Chase whispered hotly in his toy's ear, straining the sensitive equipment to pick up the quiet sound, "By the time I'm done with you, you'll be _begging_ for more..."

The automaton was inclined to believe him, weird, never-before-felt energy pulses (with no apparent cause) flowing through his power-core already causing fatal errors in his logic drive at his master's very touch.

_**400. Globally-**_

Jack gaped at the results of his computer simulation, stunned to the core at his success before excitedly jumping up from his chair and running off to tell his lover the good news.

Not even a full two minutes later, the warlord was being tugged into the room by his arm, groaning, "What is it _now_, Spicer?"

"Chase, Chase, look! See?" The goth replayed the simulation for his lover, and Chase couldn't help but be drawn in by it: it was a fairly short animation, a humanoid figure standing in the middle of the screen, some kind of fog floated in and passed over it, and, as if some sort of werewolf, it hunched over before morphing into a full, four-legged form, _feline_, Chase realized.

"What...what is this, Jack?" he inquired, honestly confused.

The teen grinned proudly as he informed, "It's a chemical compound I've been working on for the past month or so. It works to the same effect as the spell you used on your warriors, but I've tweaked it a bit! You don't have to waste any of your energy to use it, the obedience grip is still as strong as ever, telepathic commands included, and their strength under its influence increases by 110 percent! I mean, yeah, I haven't figured out how to make it _permanent_ yet, and once I do, I'll have to allow for flexibility in form change, but I can keep working on it; besides, in the meantime, you can use it for other things. Me, personally, I would spread it world-wide. You could have global control, the whole frickin' Earth (for about forty minutes) if I could manage to infect some key water supplies, but, you know, its really up to you. Besides that, if you're ever outnumbered in a battle or something, you could snag some temporary allies, and...now, I'm not saying I approve _at all_, but...I know how much converting Cheeseball to the dark side means to you, so I could always put it in its third state of matter and you could gas him, which should give you plenty of time to bring him back here and initiate him for real...again, I _do not_ approve, but I won't stop you, either."

Chase was quite honestly touched that Jack had gone through all this trouble to make something useful for him, even further touched at the fact that he was basically giving him permission to use the gift to bring Omi to the Heylin side, as well (which, considering how jealous the goth always was of him, was a _big_ thing).

"I am...at a loss, rabbit," he confessed. "Thank you." A devilish idea suddenly began brewing in the man's mind as he thought of a way he could reward his lover for the thoughtful present while still treating himself to a long-time fantasy. "How much of this substance will prompt a full transformation?" he wondered.

"Um, about 16 mg," the youth answered, "why?"

"Oh," Chase grinned, quickly measuring out 4mg of the pinkish liquid, "no reason..."

The warlord easily caught hold of the albino's arm and pulled him close, deftly forcing the struggling teen (more from startlement than mistrust) to swallow it.

Soon after, Jack slid to the ground when the warlord let go of him, moaning softly as the chemical did its job. Soft, rounded ears appeared atop his head, hands and feet shifted into feline paws, and a long, white tail sprouted from his backside, causing a distinctly feline yowl to escape the youth's throat at the mild ache it caused.

Chase, standing proudly above his lover, stated, "Omi isn't _half_ the pet you are, Spicer, and you're only 1/4 of a cat, as of now."

His heightened senses picking up a telepathic command, Jack's eyes clouded over with lust, and he crawled over to his lover, curling up against the man and pawing needfully at his pant-leg, quiet mewls of want escaping his throat here and there.

His master's command to mate with him had sent the anthro-teenager into a state akin to heat.

Chase grabbed one fluffy, white paw and pulled the goth to his feet, his mouth then gently toying with a feline ear and causing a pleased purr to sound from the younger male.

"Come to bed, my kitten," he rumbled, "and I'll show you just how much more I adore _you_ than that monk..."

Due to the effects of his own concoction, coaxing his immediate obedience to the man, Jack was really in no position to say no, even if he had wanted to.

--

**A/N:** _**Absence- **_**No comment.**

_**Closet- **_**Ha, get it? It's a real closet, not a metaphorical one! It's funny, 'cause you all probably thought they were talking about coming out, but they already have! :D ...Yeah, its not that funny. -.-"**

_**Anniversary-**_** Matt's been looking forward to this one for awhile; besides that, Jack **_**would**_** celebrate that kind of anniversary, wouldn't he? XD**

_**Ambassador-**_** I finally got a chance to tie in my secret belief that Jack is Irish! Yay! :D I don't know why, but Jack with an Irish accent makes me feel all happy inside. :)**

_**Accounting-**_** Continuation of **_**Application, Ultimatum**_**, and **_**Ask **_**from Chapters 26 and 27. Wuya found out, and she's not happy; Jack's scared and disoriented; Chase doesn't really give a crap, 'cause he's still horny and sexually-frustrated. XD**

_**Battlesuit- **_**This is part-my idea, part-Matt's idea; I proposed the question of why Jack didn't make something like that, and Matt insisted I put it in Anthology in the form of Jack being ridiculous, because that always seems to make his day. XD**

_**Difficulties-**_** I only really have this to say: I don't know what Jack is, but he's a fluffy-wuffy, cutie-wootie, ickle, little sweetie-pie. XD And **_**that**_** my friends, is a sentence that can rot your teeth, which is why I will never say something like that aloud; I **_**will**_** type it, however. XD**

_**Trial**_**- Who else but Jack? I mean, come on, really? **_**Really**_**? Exactly, I thought so.**

_**Error-**_** Jack is a robot, and Chase is his owner; you should have seen this coming from about 39 chapters away. And, of course, as Matt said, "Awww..." because there's always an "Awww..." when a robot develops emotions. Besides that, though, think about it for a minute: it was in the manual that you could do that with him, so...does that mean there's more in circulation? A whole mass of Jack Spicer robots, all fully-equipped to handle sex with a human? ... :runs off to find and hijack factory:**

_**Globally- **_**Chase has always fantasized about making it with a neko, and now his dream can come true! XD Next, the thing with him in a dominatrix outfit, and the fuzzy handcuffs, and the whip. XD No, that's not true; it'll be a frilly dress. XD**

**That's Chapter 40, so...there ya' go! :D**


	41. Chapter 41

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**401. In-Law-**_

Fiona Spicer was officially the mother-in-law from hell.

"Mr. Young, the way you treat my son is _despicable_! He is _not_ a common whore, he is your _wife_ and you should refer to him as 'darling' at all times! And how is he treated at your home? My perfect boy deserves nothing less than pampering! Silken sheets, rich chocolates, expensive bath oils, fine jewelry! If you cannot provide him with what he needs, I _will_ have your marriage anulled, and he will come right back home to me!"

Migraine already setting in, Chase snarled and grabbed the woman's arm, teleporting to the middle of his main bedroom, all of the riches and treasures in the large room immediately catching Fiona's eye and making her gasp aloud as her son-in-law demanded, "Is all _this_ lavish enough for your Jack, woman?! This is only one _room_ of my home, and I assure you, there are many more like it!"

The blond woman fainted dead away at the very _thought_ of so much wealth, causing Chase to scoff as he threw her over his shoulder so that he could bring her home. At the very least, maybe _this_ would shut the shrieking harpy up for an hour or two.

Oh, the people he didn't kill for his Jack's sake!

_**402. Internal Organs-**_

"No, Chase, don't touch the Wu!"

The warlord paused at the goth's warning, turning to face Jack with a questioning look.

"It could be booby-trapped," the teen explained. "I'll go first..."

A pale, white hand closed around the mystical object cautiously before picking it up. There was silence for a moment, then, "Hey, look, I guess it _wasn't_ booby-trapped after al-aagh!"

Chase's eyes widened as Jack doubled over in pain, moaning and groaning, "Ooh, god, it _hurts_! Aah! My internal organs feel like they're _bleeding_! Urgh, _so_ much pain!"

The warlord rushed to his mate's side almost immediately. "By the gods," he gasped at seeing tears streaming down the youth's face and red dripping from the corner of his mouth, "are you alright, Spicer?"

"No," Jack whimpered, "I can't...I can't..."

"You can't what?" came the concerned demand.

"I can't...believe you're so stupid!" Jack cackled playfull., " 'My internal organs'?! I mean, come on, what the _fuck_, Chase? How'd you fall for _that_?"

As the teen removed the fake blood capsule from his mouth and rose to his feet, Chase growled, smacking his lover upside the head and roughly grabbing the Wu away as he stormed off angrily.

"Aw, come on," Jack giggled, chasing after the man, "I was just joking, baby! Don't be like that!"

_**403. Guessing-**_

"Do you know what today is, Chase?"

The warlord thought for a moment before bluntly answering, "No."

"Aw, come on, really?" Jack whined pleadingly, "You can't think of _anything_ special about today?"

"I'm sorry, Spicer, but I'm not good at these guessing games you play. What particular significance does today have?"

The goth pouted at Chase's surrender and whimpered dejectedly, "Today's the day you said my real name for the first time. I can't believe you don't remember..."

Chase sighed, pulling Jack into his lap. "You fault me for forgetting such a trivial thing? When I have every other _important_ happening between us engraved into my mind? The day we met on October 13th, 2004, our first kiss and the first time we made love on December 8th, 2006, and then just last week when you agreed to be my mate. I remember all of those things _in addition_ to yours and every single person in that prolific, Irish family of yours' birthdays, and you chastise me for forgetting that one little thing?"

Jack blushed, embarrassed despite himself, and admitted, "Yeah, Chase, you're right; I mean, hell, even _I_ can't remember half that crap! You're off the hook; a first name thing isn't really that big an anniversary, anyways."

"Now, hold on there, Jack," the man interjected, a predatory grin on his face, "I never said we shouldn't _celebrate_ it..."

_**404. Astral Plane-**_

"Chase, where's the ice cream?"

"There isn't any," the man bluntly answered, not even otherwise acknowledging his lover.

"Aw," the goth whined pathetically, "but I'm _hungry_! Go get me some!"

The warlord scoffed at the order. "I will not; go get some yourself at a convenience store."

"Ugh, no, that's too far away...I'll just procure some from the astral plane."

Chase shook his head disparagingly, wondering when his mate would stop letting his childish imagination run wild.

..._or_ maybe not, as Jack walked by into the kitchen, a tub of Strawberry-Banana Chocolate Crunch ice cream in his arms as he scoured about for a spoon.

_**405. Overtones-**_

Jack Spicer and Chase Young were practically inversions of each other to an extent that was just plain weird.

The former exhibited excessive overtones of femininity with blatantly softer undertones of masculinity while the latter exhibited obvious undertones of femininity but overall possessed strong overtones of masculinity.

_**406. Christmas-**_

"Jack," Chase began slowly upon seeing an unfamiliar object in the bedroom, "what is this?"

"It's our Christmas tree," the teen informed the elder, "it _is_ the holiday season, you know."

"...it has black needles."

"Uh-huh."

"And there's a _skull_ on top in place of a star or an angel."

"Yep."

"It's decorated with _orange tinsel, bats, and spiders_."

"It sure is."

"...you've been watching Nightmare Before Christmas excessively again, haven't you?"

"Aw, come on," Jack protested, "wouldn't Halloween on Christmas be cool? It could be our special tradition; not every year, or anything, but, like, once every _five_ years or something!"

"Spicer...stop abusing illegal drugs and watching Tim Burton movies."

"Aw, _please_?"

And what could Chase do in the face of such wide, pleading, puppy-eyes but sigh and say 'fine'?

_**407. Alert-**_

Alarms blared throughout the base, a computerized voice loudly repeating, "RED ALERT, INTRUDER, RED ALERT!"

As the troops dispatched, led by their general, their morale was only boosted as one of the pale-skinned, never-exposed-to-sunlight hackers caught their superior in a quick kiss, then demanding (surprisingly not in binary, as hackers usually spoke), "Chase, you'd better be fucking careful, or I'll change your name in the system to Skippy the Wonder Horse!"

The general smiled, promising, "Don't worry about me, you little technophile; I'll be fine." With a gruff order of, "Come on, men, we still have a job to do!" the older man returned to his duty, making sure to throw a reassuring look in Jack's direction as he did so.

_**408. Quench-**_

Chase, the rough-and-tumble alley-cat he was, was always glad of the fact that the sweet, little house-cat he frequented hadn't been neutered, because by leaving Jack to stew in pent up lust for a while without a visit, when he _did_ show up, the cat was practically in heat and begging for him, and the tomcat always _loved_ to quench his queen's hunger and need, to feel that immense power in reducing the other feline to a mewling pile of white fur beneath him.

It really _was_ too bad that he couldn't stay too long, lest Wuya (Jack's owner) discover that her precious little purebred was having an affair with a stray.

_**409. Happiness-**_

It was nice, Chase decided, the mostly-unfamiliar happiness he felt when Jack was around.

_**410. Break-Out-**_

Alarms wailed in the distance, and Chase took a moment to catch his breath, questioning of his lover, "Are you alright, Spicer?"

The youth panting next to him took a moment to breathe before answering "Y-yeah...I'm fine...I never thought I'd be part of a prison break-out."

Chase smiled darkly. "People hardly ever do."

Jack giggled before becoming serious. "What are we gonna do now? Where are we gonna go?"

The older male smirked down at his beloved, informing, "No need to worry, my Jack. I have plenty of connections: we'll be just fine. Now, come on, they'll already be looking for us. We'd best get going."

Jack smiled up at the man that he now couldn't imagine living without after spending only two months in jail with before agreeing, "Yeah, let's blow this pop-stand."

--

**A/N: Dang. Been awhile, huh? Sorry, everybody, really, I have no excuse; I have up to 446 done and I haven't posted a single chapter. Why? I guess I've been lazy/busy. Probably more of the former. -.- Anyways, moving on!**

_**In-Law- **_**No comment.**

_**Internal Organs- **_**Like Matt said when I wrote it: "There's always a scene where someone goes, 'Hey, I guess it wasn't booby-trapped after al-AAGH!' " and I was inclined to agree. :D**

_**Guessing- **_**No comment.**

_**Astral Plane-**_** This is a mystery that will never be solved: where did Jack obtain the ability to procure items from the astral plane? o.0**

_**Overtones-**_** Seriously, this was, like, a realization for me. o.o**

_**Christmas- **_**Matt made me write this one, because we both love Nightmare Before Christmas and believe that Jack would totally want a Christmas like that as we do. XD On a more serious note, if anyone who doesn't celebrate the Christian holiday because they are not of that religion, good for you; this wasn't meant to offend anyone or anything, and it really shouldn't. -.-**

_**Alert-**_** Continuation of **_**Hackers**_** from Chapter 37; P.S.-In case you weren't aware, Skippy the Wonder Horse is a very popular name, these days. Don't be fooled just because no one in the world exists with that name. XD**

_**Quench**_**- Yay, kitty-chack! :D And by the way, 'tomcat' is the name for a male cat, and 'queen' is the name for a female cat, if you weren't aware.**

_**Happiness-**_** No comment.**

_**Break-Out- **_**Continuation of **_**Trial**_** in Chapter 40, because, come on: Chase in jail for any longer than 2 months? **_**REALLY?**_** I thought so; and I mean, he's not about to leave his bitch in jail where anyone could get their hands on him, and so Jack's been brought along for the ride. XD**

**And there's the (way too) long-awaited 41st chapter of Anthology of Love, and as a reminder to my readers, since I'm going for 100 chapters, being so close to having 50 (as even though they're not posted, I have approximately up to Chapter 45 written) is very exciting to me; I'll be half-way through with my ultimate goal before the summer starts! :D**

**I'll do my best to get up the next couple of chapters, but...almost certainly not by this weekend. Next weekend, probably.**

**-.-"**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**


	42. Chapter 42

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_411. Disposes-_**

The morning after of a one-night-stand, Jack was expecting to wake up alone, the handsome man he had met at a bar while drunk the evening previous to have disposed of him like the quick fling he was without so much as a 'we were both smashed, it was a mistake, let's go our separate ways and never speak of this again'.

He was, therefore, quite surprised to be greeted by the thoughtful (and delicious) gesture of breakfast in bed, Chase then graciously offering to take him somewhere decidedly more devoid of alcohol later in order to better get to know each other.

**_412. Sin-_**

Jack arched his back, pale grey wings feeling a bit squished under him against the cool Earth as his demonic lover nipped at his collarbone, forked tongue savoring the taste of sweat-slicked skin as the fallen angel cried out in pleasure beneath him.

Dear Lord, what would the Holy Father think of this Sin? Such base, primal acts from one of his children, one who was suppoed to have been the purest of the pur-nngh!

Oh, who the _fuck_ cared what the Father thought, just _please_ let Chase do _that_ again!

**_413. Initiate-_**

"Alright, Jack," Rai grinned at the younger boy, "you're almost in. The last step of your initiation is to carve your initials into our dragon. Once you've got that done, you'll be one of us."

Up until that moment, Jack had been excited about joining this exclusive club, but the thought of the dragon frightened him. Supposedly, it was some big lizard they had found and caught somewhere, and it was said to be really dangerous and scary.

"Here's the key and the knife, kid," Kimiko smirked, handing him the objects, "the thing's in the basement."

Making his way to the ominous-looking door, the goth breathed deeply, steadying his nerves before unlocking the thick metal door and stepping inside.

What he saw was _nothing_ like what he'd expected.

Oh, sure, it was a dragon, alright, there was no mistaking _that_, but...it didn't look all that dangerous.

It looked...sad.

The large creature merely lay there on the cold, damp ground, not even acknowledging the intruder's presence, and so Jack looked it over a bit. It's waist was pathetically thin, so it was obviously underfed, it's tail had a kink towards the end of it that was _definitely_ not natural, probably something the gang upstairs had done to it, and on the poor creature's left flank were the infamous carved initials, still caked with blood and looking rather infected.

The goth, against his better judgment, decided to take a risk, cautiously approaching the reptile.

"Hey, boy," he gently coaxed, "look at me..."

The huge lizard half-opened its eyes, causing Jack to gasp at the intense gold color, and when those eyes caught sight of the forgotten knife in the pale hand, apprehension flooded into the bright irises, looking pathetically submissive, _begging_ not to be cut again.

This was wrong.

A creature like this, something so beautiful deserved better, deserved it's pride and should _never_ have been subjugated like this! Rai and his gang, the albino realized, should _pay_ for this, for what they'd done to this poor animal.

Jack took one more look into those eyes, seeing a burning desire for revenge this time around, and he raised the knife in his hand, easily slicing through the ropes tying the creature down, and when the reptile gave him a confused, questioning look, he rose to his feet and swung the door to the basement wide open.

Jack didn't feel bad that every single person upstairs was torn to pieces by razor-sharp claws and teeth: Omi, Raimundo, Clay, Kimiko, they all deserved it!

In fact, that's how Jack decided on a name for the lizard when, after his revenge, he'd returned to the goth and sat at his feet, presenting him with Rai's trademark chain (blood spotting the shiny gold, of course): the beast didn't rest until he'd chased down and killed _every last one_ of his tormentors.

**_414. Disturbing-_**

It was a little disturbing for Jack to watch Chase kill someone, to see the blood-spatter on the man's handsome face, complementing the sharp, wicked grin of pride at the homicide, but really, the goth didn't mind: it was part of who his lover was, as much a part of Chase Young as his reptilian form, his pointed canines and ears, and hell, even his long, silk-soft hair.

Besides, the post-murder sex was probably the most intense ever to be had on the planet Earth, and so it was really hard (more like _impossible_) to have a moral-crisis when every last bit of an immortal, dragon warlord's passion was fixed firmly on you.

**_415. Connotation-_**

Upon thinking of all the things these days that had sexual connotations for him, Jack figured he and Chase should probably stop experimenting before even the _kitchen sink_ made him think of something erotic.

...oh, wait, nevermind: it was already too late for that.

**_416. Rag-Tag-_**

"C'mon, Chase, we can take those monks! You and me, a kick-ass, rag-tag team tha-aw, _hey_!" the teen whined upon seeing the Xiaolin warriors already defeated, "Gawd, Chase, you're supposed to at least wait for me to finish my sentence!"

"What would have been the point?" the warlord casually asked, collecting the unconscious monks' Wu, "It's not as if you'd have contributed to the battle anyways."

**_417. Shout-_**

Jack didn't know what Chase used to clean the sheets in his home, but he knew that it made them _way_ comfier than whatever off-the-shelf, most-likely-Shout! detergent his frugal (more like cheap) mother used.

**_418. Espionage-_**

"I know you're there."

Chase froze at the direct address, and held his breath, hoping that the target was only bluffing.

"Come on, now, it's just stupid to be all super-spy espionage agent when I'm aware of you, right? Come down from there and we can talk like people, 'kay?"

Knowing he was caught for sure, Chase sighed, dismounting from the ceiling beam with an elegant flip, causing his target to give an impressed whistle. "Nice form," the young man complimented. "You're sexier than I figured an assassin would be." He casually collected some papers off of his desk, straightening them meticulously before removing his glasses and sitting down with a professional air. "I'm going to go ahead and assume Wuya sent you?"

"Yes," Chase nodded, "she caught on to your affair and she's jealous."

"Affair?" the target inquired. "Oh, there's no affair, I'm afraid, only my work. Being a scientist _does_ keep me pretty busy, especially when I get caught up in my research."

The assassin was honestly surprised: his client had seemed _so_ convinced of another woman! "Your _work_?" he questioned. "But...your wife said you haven't had sexual relations with her in _months_."

"She, honestly, doesn't peak my interest anymore," the younger man admitted. "Besides, I don't _need_ sex. It's great, and all, but really, that's what masturbation is for, right? When you're wife's a bitch and you can't even stand touching her anymore."

"She told me that you lock yourself in the library for hours and when she knocks, you don't answer her," Chase informed.

The scientist groaned. "_Everything_ is a fight with her, these days; it's just better if we don't talk at all."

"Well," Chase sighed, "I...I believe your wife should have gotten hard proof before enlisting my services; it's a strict policy of mine to never kill an innocent man."

As the elder of the two turned to leave, the albino caught Chase's wrist and gave him a sound kiss on the lips, smirking as he then teased, "Just because I'm _not_ cheating on Wuya doesn't mean I don't _want_ to; don't rule me out as someone to keep you company on one of your lonely nights, Mr. Assassin."

Intrigued by the young man despite himself, the dagger-for-hire allowed for another kiss (this time with a bit of tongue) before quipping, "I'll certainly keep you in mind, Mr. Jack Spicer, and by all means: call me Chase."

And without any real warning, the man was gone, leaving a hopeful red-head alone in his study, as per usual.

**_419. King-_**

"Chase, I'd like to tell you a story; I think it'll get you through some of these hard times you're going through."

The goth sat the warlord down before taking his own seat in an easy chair before starting, "Once upon a time, there was a Dragon who was very small in size. This Dragon unfortunately fell in love with a dragon that was _twice_ his size.

The small dragon knew that if he was going to win the affection of the Big Dragon he would have to get bigger.

In order to obtain a greater size, the Dragon ate a magical mushroom that would make him grow. Instead, the mushroom made only his feet big, so the Big Dragon did not love him.

Then the Small Dragon with the Big Feet went to the Magical Magician in order to make him big. Unfortunately, the magician could only make his head grow larger, so now the Small Dragon with the Big Head and Feet would never win the affections of the Big Dragon, and he was sad.

Then, he met a Grumbly-Bumbly bear named Edward that promised to be his friend.

The moral of the story is that you don't need a girlfriend if you have a Grumbly-Bumbly bear as a friend.

Anyway, there also was a Fangly Monster who nobody loved because she was all fangly and scary and nobody loved her. However, she saved the Grumbly-Bumbly bear one day, and the Grumbly-Bumbly bear said that he would do anything for the Fangly Monster.

Therefore, the Fangly Monster said she wanted one grain of rice. The bear said that that was a small prize for saving his life, so the Fangly Monster asked for one grain of rice that doubled for thirty days.

The bear thought this was a small task, so he said yes.

After thirty days, the Fangly Monster had over five billion grains of rice. The bear said he was out of rice and the Fangly Monster said that that was okay.

While the Fangly Monster was swimming in the mountains of rice, she happened upon the Small Dragon with Big Feet and Head. She then forced the Dragon to bind his feet and break his arch so that his feet could fit into tiny shoes. This was the Dragon's one true fantasy, so he fell in love with the Fangly Monster and wanted to get married.

Therefore, they had a big wedding with the Grumbly-Bumbly bear as the best man and the Magical Magician as the flower girl.

However, the Dragon had to get the blessing of the Fangly Monster's father who just happened to be the Monster King. He gave three tasks for the dragon to complete.

The first one was painting the royal fence.

The Dragon was unable to do the task because his head was too big for his hands to reach the fence. The Grumbly-Bumbly bear did it for him.

The second task was to prune the royal tree.

The Dragon couldn't do it with his big head, and the Grumbly-Bumbly bear couldn't do it because he had no thumbs, so the Magical Magician said he would do it.

'Abracaprune!' and the tree burst into flames.

The Monster King said this was close enough and it was.

The third and final task was to climb the mountain of DOOM and retrieve the magical unicorn that awaited atop it.

It was a long and treacherous journey and at the top of the mountain the trio ran into an Ogre who said, 'What smells like poo?'

It was the Dragon who soiled himself moments before.

The Ogre was upset at the grossness and kicked the Grumbly-Bumbly bear down the mountain.

"Grumbly-Bumbly!" he said.

The Magical Magician could only make things burst into flames, so he said, 'Abraca-kill-the-ogre!' And the Magician burst into flames and rolled down the mountain also.

The Dragon tried to fight the Ogre but his giant head and feet got in the way, and he, too, rolled down the mountain in defeat.

The Fangly Monster couldn't bear to see her husband defeated this way, so she fought the Ogre.

There was a battle that was waged for three years and a day and then everything exploded. The End."

Chase stared at his lover for a long time before demanding, "What. The fuck. Is wrong with you, Spicer?"

"Chase, Chase, Chase," Jack sighed, "maybe _someday_, you'll understand."

The man scoffed before standing and walking out of the room, muttering about having better things to do than listen to nonsense.

Jack merely smiled, nodding approvingly at his job-well-done as he watched his lover go.

**_420. Fluffy-_**

Wuya remembered the very moment she discovered what her precious purebred cat was up to everyday, walking into her living room and seeing Jack's fluffy, white fur pressed up against slightly-dirty greenish-black as he nursed a nasty-looking scratch on the stray's belly, the mysterious cat's golden eyes staring her down challengingly as she approached.

Seeing claw-marks she hadn't noticed before on her pet's hips and bite marks on the back of his neck, Wuya was finally hit with the truth: Jack and this alley-cat were doing naughty things with each other, and they were using her house to do it.

Wonderful.

Of course, little did she then know that her Jack would be _forcing_ his tom to stay this time, and that she'd be expected to care for him, as well; if she had, she might've kicked the stray out before he was healed and could fight back.

As it was, it looked like Chase (as Jack spelled for her in fish-shaped kibble one morning) was here to stay.

--

**A/N: **

**_Disposes- _No comment.**

**_Sin- _Continuation of _Fallen_ and _Hell_ in Chapters 33 and 34 respectively; the fallen angel and risen devil 'enjoy themselves' a bit on their new home of Earth, Jack going through a minor crisis of morality before deciding, 'screw it'. XD**

**_Initiate- ..._Rai's a meanie-head..._wow,_ that was an awful insult. o.o Although, I _have_ used worse ("face-head"). XD And on another note, poor Chase, all abused and stuff. ;.;**

**_Disturbing-_ Originally was going to be a continuation of _Trial_ in Chapter 40 and _Break-Out_ in Chapter 41, but I changed my mind at the last minute and rewrote it as it's own piece. I think it turned out pretty well. :)**

**_Connotations-_ Oh, Chase and Jack, you and your kinky sex! XD**

**_Rag-Tag- _Ooh, _ouch_, Chase! Someone call the ambulance, 'cause someone needs to treat those _third-degree burns!_ XD ...Yes, that's my own personal diss, by the way; you may ridicule me at will, but remember to save some venom for _King, _'cause I bet there'll be more comments about that than anything.**

**_Shout-_ Ah, the woman's rich, and she can't spring for something a little pricier than 'Shout!'? Tsk, tsk, Mrs. Spicer, tsk, tsk. No wonder your son sleeps with evil, dragon everlords: it's a known fact that they clean their sheets better. XD**

**_Espionage_- Chase _will_ be looking Jack up eventually, and then Jack'll divorce Wuya, but for now? It's only an affair in the making.**

**_King- _I'm sure you've guessed it by now: this is all Matt's doing. He was talking to me on the phone, and for no reason whatsoever, he launched into this story, and I was _crying_ from laughter at the ridiculousness of it by the time he was done; he then typed it out, e-mailed it to me, and I edited it and put it in this story. Why? Because I wanted to share the joy of a _really_ stupid story with you all. XD**

**_Fluffy- _Continuation of _Quench_ from Chapter 41, in which Wuya discovers the affair and Chase moves in. Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, Chase got into a scuffle with another alley-cat, which is where the cut came from, and like a good little wife, Jack is tending to it for him. XD And besides that, it's doubtful that Wuya really looked into the fact that a cat spelling something in the english writing system with kibble is frickin' amazing because she was aggravated that she had to put up room and board along with food and care for a cat that didn't even have papers. XD**

**And there's Chapter 42, because I felt guilty about being gone from posting for, what? 2 weeks?, and since I've written ahead a couple chapters, I figured I might as well post this one to get rid of the guilties. XD**

**Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading! :D**


	43. Chapter 43

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_421. Bunny-_**

Chase was furiously proud of himself.

After a four-hour bedroom romp with his mate and lover, he had finally done the impossible: the albino had passed out immediately after sex, the exhausted bunny-youth quickly falling asleep sated and drooling slightly on the pillow.

As Chase simply lie in bed, watching the rabbit, _his_ rabbit (which was saying something as rabbit-morphs were notoriously hard to tie down) sleep , his striped tail twitching every now and then, a pleased growl rumbled from his chest.

Oh, yeah: he was _that_ good.

**_422. Unexplained-_**

Jack had been close, I mean _really_ close to finally doing it.

He had downed a drink or two to steel his nerves, and hell, the razor was already biting into his skin a bit, just ready to slice open the vein with one quick vertical slash in the space of an instant, but then...

Then, Chase had stopped him, _Chase_ of all people!

One deft strike and his entire arm had gone temporarily numb, making the razor clatter loudly to the floor before Chase slapped him harshly, the rough backhand making his head turn so fast that the goth was _sure_ his neck had been broken for a few tense seconds.

"Insolent whelp," Chase had snarled at him, "and just what did you think you were doing?!"

"Killing myself," he'd answered bluntly. "S'not like I have friends who'd care if I was gone, and my parents don't even know my _name_; fuck, they've been calling me 'Sylvester' for the last _three years_! Nobody cares about me, and if I don't want to be here anymore, that's _my_ business, and nobody can tell me otherwise, not even _you_, Chase!"

The warlord had growled at him, locking one powerful hand around Jack's arm.

"_That's_ where you're wrong, Spicer,"he had hissed, "you have no claim to your life: it belongs solely to _me_, and _I_ will tell you when you can end it!"

Later, after the (at first) non-consensual sex and the following week-long stretch of imprisonment in the man's bedroom, Jack realized that that was Chase's way of saying he didn't want him to die, too inexperienced with real emotion and affection to do so the way an average person would, and upon realizing that, Jack was glad he hadn't been given the chance to kill himself.

It was still, to this day, unexplained how Chase had known he was about to commit suicide, but he was still glad anyways.

**_423. Upside-_**

"You're...renting out your Jackbots?"

"Yeah," Jack smiled, counting his plentiful wads of cash, "it's like all the profits from pimping, but you hardly _ever_ have to use the phrase, 'upside your head'."

"Tch," Chase scoffed, "how stupid."

"Don't make me go upside your head!"

**_424. Twins-_**

Chase was caught totally unaware as he was dragged out of the hall and into the janitor's closet, and upon looking to see who had grabbed him, he gave a sharp inhalation of breath.

Oh, hell: the Spicer twins.

He'd been warned about these two.

"Hey, there, little freshman," Jacob began, Jackson quickly finishing, "where are you going?"

"Nowhere, now," Chase answered flatly.

This caused both goths to smirk wickedly. "That's good," Jackson spoke first this time, Jacob following up, " 'cause we'd like to have a little chat with you."

"As you know, we're twins; because of that, we're _very_ much alike. We look the same-"

"Totally identical, right down to the birthmarks," Jacob interjected.

"-we have the same likes and dislikes-"

"Video games and Ryan Seacrest respectively."

"-and we have the same tastes in everything."

"It's almost like we have one brain on one of those heaphone-splitter thingies; we might as well be the same person."

"Damn straight, my brother," Jackson agreed, "and so, Chase, we talked it over extensively, and we both agree..."

The two older boys closed in on Chase before speaking in unison, "You're a _sexy bitch_..."

Oh...fuck.

As Jackson roughly took his lips, holding his wrists to the wall and Jacob knelt in front of him, making quick work of his dark jeans, Chase was totally honest with himself: he was in _way_ over his head.

As Jackson's hand slid under his shirt and Jacob's mouth started doing some interesting things _very_ close to a certain sensitive area, however, the freshman decided he didn't much care.

Let the juniors do whatever they wanted to him, _provided_ that they kept right on doing it.

**_425. Sailed-_**

As a sailor by trade, Jack could honestly say you'd never _truly_ sailed until you'd sailed with someone you love, in his case, that fussy aristocrat who'd only been convinced to do so with him after hours and days of bargaining.

He'd be _sore_ in the morning from the extreme trade-off, but looking at the fiery, colorful sunset, floating on a small boat in the ocean as he cuddled up against Chase, Jack decided it would totally be worth it.

**_426. Knock-Knock Jokes-_**

"Knock-knock."

Almost against his will, Chase prompted, "Who's there?"

"Agent Williams."

Wondering what kind of asinine, ridiculous pun this would be turned into, the warlord questioned, " 'Agent Williams' who?"

It was a bit of a surprise when instead of making a play on words, Jack gruffly shouted, "Don't play dumb; we know about the crack-ferrets, scum-bag, now open up!"

Unable to help himself, Chase gave a slight, amused chuckle, causing Jack to 'squee' in happiness, having finally gotten his lover to laugh at one of his jokes.

**_427. iPod-_**

Chase had thought better of asking why Jack was laughing hysterically at his iPod and had just kept walking towards his study, ignoring the albino completely.

The goth, therefore, never got a chance to tell his lover of what looking at the iPod had made him think of on that particular day: a Chase Young silhouette, complete with iPod and earbuds, and the bold, golden letting of 'iHeylin' against a dark green background, Chaos by Skold playing along to the 'commercial'.

**_428. Dresses-_**

Jacqueline was a very nervous girl right now.

Her junior prom absolutely _had_ to be perfect, and this fact was what had now brought her to about the sixteenth dress shop today.

It was bad enough she didn't have a date (she was, in all confidentiality, a lesbian, and she had turned down the few guys that had asked her, and not a single girl offered either), and so her dress _had_ to be _amazing_ if the entire night wasn't going to be a total failure.

As her hands investigatively touched the soft fabric of a dark purple dress, a decidedly tanner pair of hands abruptly lay on top of her own.

Looking behind her with a start, Jacqueline nearly gaped openly, red, kohl-lined eyes wide at the sight of _the_ most beautiful woman she'd _ever_ seen.

The older female gave her a charming, white-toothed smile, the soft, fluorescent lighting of the store bringing out the dark green highlights in her long, silky hair as she offered, "Excuse me, miss, can I help you?"

"I...I...um...I'm l-looking for a-a dress for my junior prom," the girl stuttered helplessly, an embarrassed blush taking her cheeks at how sheerly pathetic she sounded.

However, the other woman only smiled at her, replying, "Well, then, I'm definitely the one to help you, seeing as this is _my_ dress shop. My name is Chiang, but you may call me Chi if you like."

Pale, white fingers, nails painted with black varnish, threaded through sunset-red hair nervously as the younger introduced, "Uh, I'm Jackie...So you... you really think you can help me find something?"

The woman laughed amiably, proudly stating, "Of _course_ I can! Don't insult my expertise. First things first, do you know your measurements? With the kind of body _you_ have, a dress that shows off your curves would be best."

Forcing down another furious blush (Chi wasn't _flirting_ with her, was she?) Jackie admitted, "No, not really...I don't, uh...I don't usually wear dresses..."

"Pity," Chiang 'tsk'-ed, "you would look lovely in them." Without warning, the older woman almost casually went up behind the girl and lay her hands on her breasts.

"M-ma'am?!" Jackie squeaked, both frightened and bashful at the same time.

Chi said nothing, her hands moving further down Jackie's body, along the curve of her slender waist and then resting on her hips, lingering only a moment before pulling away.

"I believe I have just the thing for you," the woman deduced. "In fact, it is practically _made_ for you."

As she was pulled to a different section of the store, the teenaged girl realized that the woman had only been measuring her before (which, considering her painfully-single status, was a pity), but she didn't have long to dwell on this as a gown that made her jaw drop was quickly presented to her.

It was black satin, sleeveless and floor-length, intricate designs embroidered on the skirt with attentive detail in crimson thread. The dress was snug-looking around the breasts and hips, but purposely loose around the legs, enough so that were to twirl while wearing it, the fabric would fan out beautifully.

"Wow," the girl murmured, awestruck, "it's gorgeous..."

"I'm glad you think so," Chi thanked smugly, "I made it myself."

A forgotten object came to mind, and a feeling of dread and disappointment took root in Jackie's stomach as she hesitantly questioned, "How much is it?"

"Oh, it's free," the woman informed, "provided you grace me with a date after your prom."

The girl's eyes were wide with delight as she gasped, "Really?!"

Wow, this was _awesome_! This beautiful dress for free, _and_ this equally(if not _more_)-beautiful woman was _asking her out_?!

"Yes," Chi insisted, "unless, of course, you already have a lucky young man or woman on your arm for the occasion-"

"No, no," the youth exclaimed, her excitement practically palpable as she assured, "I'm single! So, um, Saturday next week, eight-ish?"

"That sounds alright to me," Chiang agreed. "I assume you go to Oak Union High?"

"Uh-huh," the girl assured. "I hate to ask though, but...can you pick me up? 'Cause, I don't have a car."

"It's a date, Jackie," Chi purred at her, tearing the price tag off of the dress and handing it to the teen.

The younger female grinned and thanked the woman, blowing an impish kiss at her as she left.

The two were entirely unaware that they both considered it their lucky day.

**_429. Turkey-_**

Chase froze upon seeing Jack sitting in his living room with Mister Spiky, Francescas (and her babies, Kin, Kuroi, and Shiroi), Plasty, the flamingo, the gnome, and a mysterious turkey.

"Gobbles was anxious, 'cause he's new here," Jack explained, "so I figured I'd introduce him to the rest of the crew."

**_430. Silliest-_**

"_No_, Chase, I _can't_ go downtown today! I haven't got my sword, and it's been raining for two days, and there's not a stampede of wildebeests in Times Square, and Disturbed hasn't released a new album in over two weeks!" Jack cried. "And besides that, it's Friday the 13th."

"That," Chase said after a long pause, "may be the silliest thing you've ever said."

The man was proven wrong nearly five minutes later, when he heard the screech of, "Oh, _God_, the kangaroo!" from the other room.

--

**A/N: **

**_Bunny- _Continuation of _Sex-Ed_ from Chapter 30, because somebody had to show slutty-rabbit!Jack that even _he_ can get tired during smexing. And besides, if _anyone_ could do it, it'd be Chase. XD**

**_Unexplained- _I think Chase just sort of watches Jack; that's probably how he knew Jack was gonna kill himself, and likewise for just about every other 'Jack-gets-sick-of-being-ridiculed-and/or-ignored-by-everyone-and-decides-to-commit-suicide-but-Chase-saves-him-at-the-last-second' fics.**

**_Upside- _Pretty much stole it from Futurama, but...shh! Pretend I didn't; it's fun to pretend! XD**

**_Twins-_ Yay, two Jacks! :D The world has become a better place! XD On another note: Chase is _totally_ uke in this relationship for two reasons: A) he's younger and B) he's outnumbered.**

**_Sailed-_ Heh heh, Chase is the fussy one and Jack's the rugged one. XD LOLZipop.**

**_Knock-Knock Jokes- _BEST. JOKE. EVAR. Use it on your friends, they'll all be like, "Wtf? 0.o"**

**_iPod-_ I heart my iPod. I really do. And besides this not-totally-relevant fact, Chaos by Skold is a really cool song, and I can honestly imagine it playing to Chase's (not real) iHeylin commercial. XD**

**_Dresses_- I'm honestly surprised it took me this long to get around to it: femslash. If it bothers anyone, I apologize, but, you know, I figured I've done just about every _other_ thing that gets people to push the FLAME button (which, surprisingly, no one really has yet), like mpreg, bestiality (not outright sex or anything, but I've implied romance going on between Chase and Jack when one or both of them are animals more than once), drug abuse, alcohol abuse, horrible puns, and as a general theme, male/male love, so I decided it was about time to start reaching for stuff I hadn't done yet: female/female. I, myself, am not as interested in lesbian pairings and fanfictions and etc, being mainly a yaoi fangirl myself as opposed to a yuri fangirl, but that doesn't mean I don't think two women have as much right to be together as both two men and a man and a woman do, so I figured I could use this prompt to sort of put that out there. -.-**

**_Turkey- _Notice all of Jack's random pets and objects are making a comeback; Matt's idea, so he deserves a good deal of credit, although I _do_ claim the way in which I chose to write it.**

**_Silliest- _In case you're wondering, yes: I _did_ just try and think of random things for Jack to say. _HOWEVER_, I _do_ have an actual incident in which I have said the phrase, "Oh, god, the kangaroo!" where it made perfect sense in context. It was a tiny, key-chain kangaroo, and I was holding it while I was talking on the phone (with, guess who?, Matt) and I started to drop it and tried frantically to catch it for a few minutes (with only one hand, mind you) and when I dropped it, I exclaimed, "Oh, god, the kangaroo!"**

**And there's Chapter 43, so...yeah. o.o**

**Oh, and also, I recently found out in my Japanese class that the two kanji for 'ka' (fire) and 'zan' (mountain) put together means 'volcano' in Japanese, which works out AWESOME-POSSUM for that prompt I did for _Possum_ back in Chapter 31, 'cause it then translates to 'Staff of the Volcano' which is pretty much what I was going for. It made me happy to learn this. XD**

**But, regardless of my accidental accuracy, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D**

**Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading! :D**


	44. Chapter 44

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_431. Fireworks-_**

Worst Fourth of July _ever_.

That's what it was, without doubt.

And here Jack had been all excited about sharing a romantic night with his boyfriend! How stupid of him: he should've _known_ the bastard would be so heartless as to ditch him for some slut he'd just met, leaving his hopes crushed as badly as Laura's unicorn from The Glass Menagerie or Phoebe's record from The Catcher in the Rye.

......goddamn American literature class.....

.And so now the fireworks were about to start, and he was _alone_.

Worst Fourth of July _ever_.

"Excuse me, may I ask your name?"

Who...? Oh, yeah, it was that guy who was here with the slut before she ran off with Takeshi. Jack had to admit, the man was handsome. He'd thought so the minute he'd seen the gorgeous Chinese man but since he'd been in (what he thought was) a committed relationship, he'd done his best to keep his thoughts loyal.

Now, however, there was nothing wrong with appreciating a handsome stranger's beauty.

That wasn't to say he was up for any flirting just yet, I mean, he was _really_ bummed right now, but that didn't mean he couldn't at least make conversation, right?

"It's Jack," he answered, "and you?"

"Chase," the man answered, "I couldn't help but notice that both of our partners are filthy, rotten whores."

The goth mirthlessly chuckled, "_Oh_, yeah, you got that right; god, you think you know a guy..."

"My life story," Chase murmured in a low tone before almost hesitantly posing, "But in any case, since we're both here alone now...would it be awful for you if we spent the rest of the evening together?"

"...you mean, like, 'as a couple' together?"

"There doesn't need to be that kind of pressure, so soon," the older man amended, "but I wouldn't mind enjoying your company tonight if you're alright with that."

The idea sounded nice to Jack, as his other options were to engage in the romantic past-time _alone_ like a complete loser or to just go home, get bombed and cry, and so he agreed, "Sure, I guess that'd be okay."

Chase smiled at him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Well, then, as your date for the evening, I suggest you quiet down lest you miss the fireworks."

Not even five minutes later, Jack found himself close up against Chase, the older man's strong arms around him as the two gazed up at the fiery bursts of light and color in the night sky.

Maybe he had been wrong, Jack mused, watching as a red-and-purple swirling pattern faded into the blackness, maybe it _wasn't_ the worst Fourth of July ever.

Chancing a look up at his unexpected companion, Jack blushed furiously to see the man's golden eyes fixed firmly on him instead of the sky.

Neither noticed when a sparkling gold and red heart exploded behind them, Chase having taken the initiative to press his lips against the younger's; Jack taking to the action almost immediately with a soft, pleased moan, his arms curling instinctively around the back of the elder's neck.

Though the heart in the sky, for the most part, faded away, there was a very faint outline of red and gold in the sky that seemed to remain...

...Best Fourth of July _ever_.

**_432. Screens-_**

Chase groaned aloud at the sight of over 500 televisions stacked on top of one another in his mate's living room.

"Finally," Jack cackled triumphantly, "I can now watch Yu-Gi-Oh! on television screens in the shape of a pyramid!"

Oh, for the love of..._must_ Jack constantly be so ridiculous?

**_433. Dolls-_**

Chase was a ruler obsessed with his doll collection; dolls, as everyone knew, were nearly-human creatures, but without souls, no voices, no will of their own, and no light behind their eyes, and their sole purpose was to act as part of a harem for whomever their master was.

The king, some might say, was infatuated with one in particular, absolutely _smitten_ with a non-living, non-feeling thing that wasn't even supposed to have a name.

But Chase didn't care what others thought.

He _loved_ his Jack, his pretty, porcelain doll, and if what the palace witch told him was true, the cold, ruby eyes he adored would soon be bright and warm with the essence of the living.

His Jack would be human _very_ soon...

**_434. Warring-_**

Jack always hated when Chase warred with the monks (regardless of which generation of Xiaolin it happened during the time-period), because despite his utmost confidence in his lover's skills, he always feared that someone would get lucky sooner or later, and that he would be left alone in the world again.

Thankfully, Chase had too much to live for, and came back to his beloved every time completely unscathed.

**_435. Scheme-_**

"What'cha schemin' Chase?" Jack casually asked, fixing his lover with a curious stare.

The warlord was silent for a moment before answering, "Just planning our activities for the night."

Red eyes lit up with glee at the bait as he asked, "Gee, Chase, what are we gonna do tonight?"

"The same thing we do every night, Spicer: try to take over the world."

"Eeee!" Jack squealed excitedly, "You said it, you said it, you said it! I love you!"

Chase merely acknowledged, "Mmhm," as Jack began singing, "Pinky and the Brain, they're Pinky and the Brain; one is a genius, the other's insane-wait...if I'm Pinky, and you're Brain, then...HEY!"

Chase smirked smugly at Jack's realization of what he was saying about himself before stating, "_You_ said it."

**_436. Mimic-_**

Chase felt his jaw drop when, as he snuggled on the couch with his Jack, another Jack walked past through the room, the mimic muttering about being hungry and making a sandwich.

"Spicer," he growled to the one in his lap, "what is _that_?"

"A clone," came the blunt answer.

"I believe I told you," the man growled, "_no clones_!"

"Yeah," Jack acknowledged, "but then I got really busy, and figured with a clone, I could work on my projects _and_ spend time with you, and I forgot all about you telling me 'no clones' until this...very...moment. But don't worry, he's _totally_ obedient, and if he rebels, I have a button to turn him into goo, and he's the only one, so _please_ let me keep him, Chase!"

The warlord feigned thoughtfulness. "Well," he conceded, "I suppose he can stay; after all, he's obedient, and I should be able to get some use out of him when you go on those week-long family trips."

Red eyes went wide and a button on his watch was pressed, causing a liquidy sound to emanate from the kitchen (along with the distinct, tragic sound of a lonely sandwich hitting the floor, never to be eaten), Jack roughly straddling his lover's waist and growling, "I don't _care_ if he looks like me; you don't touch _anyone_ else!" kissing the man harshly as soon as he'd finished speaking.

Chase chuckled internally. Of _course_ he hadn't really been thinking of giving a clone what nothing but the original deserved, but he'd gotten his way, hadn't he?

**_437. Charades-_**

Jack loved to play charades, especially since his lover was so _bad_ at it (supposedly because of dignity, he said), but unfortunately, Chase had learned better and now forced the goth to play the 'accursed game' with his warriors, and that was just plain no fun.

The only thing they ever pantomimed was 'bring me tuna' anyways, and after about 10 times, it was really easy to guess.

**_438. Overflow-_**

Jack was having a horribly emotional day: his mother had been shot dead and his father arrested by the FBI for running a drug ring, his home had been seized as evidence, all of his financial assets frozen, and he had been informed that he was going to be sent to live with his uncle, a known alcoholic pedophile with violent tendencies, and he was a bubbling pot of conflicting emotions just ready to overflow.

He had, as a last resort, turned to the one man he respected above all others for guidance, help, _something_!

And the greeting he'd received the second he'd gotten through the door?

"What are _you_ doing here?"

The goth winced, hiding his eyes as a choked sob escaped his throat. His voice nothing more than a shaky whine, Jack apologized, "Sorry, Chase, I...I shouldn't have bothered you. I'll just...go home."

As the albino turned to leave, he froze upon hearing the cold demand of, "Why are you crying, Spicer?"

"Oh," Jack sighed shakily, "no reason; long story short, I'm an orphan, and I have to go to Tennessee to get raped and beaten by my dad's brother, but...that's not your problem, so...just forget I was ever here." The teenager turned to leave once

more, but was again stopped, this time by large hands on his shoulders. "I'm afraid it _is_ my problem: I'm not the kind of man who forgives theft and destruction of personal property."

Jack squeaked as he was abruptly swept off his feet and held bridal style by his idol. Head still aching and eyes still sore from the approximately two-hours-straight of crying he'd done, the goth could only shiver as sharp fangs grazed over his collarbone, Chase huskily growling, "Besides, I won't let your _uncle_ be the one to deflower you, Spicer; that's _my_ job..."

**_439. Ball-_**

Chase wasn't sure just why the zoo staff was so stupid as to place an otter in his exhibit, and hell, he couldn't even remember why he'd hated it so much, but he knew he was glad of it now.

Glancing over at the long, white-furred creature as he lay on top of a big red ball twice his size, draped over the rubber sphere on his belly as his shiny, ruby eyes curiously watched the crocodile watching him, Chase half-grinned.

Jack was a cute little thing as far as the reptile was concerned, but his best aspect was how playful and sweet he was, even when a dangerous predator was so close to him and sizing him up; that bravery (or more likely, naïvety) was probably the best trick he knew.

**_440. Dirt-_**

Richie Foley never _actually_ thought he'd be made to eat dirt, despite the fact that he was a bonafide geek.

But it'd finally happened.

The fact that he didn't really mind, however, was more due to the fact of who was on his knees behind the blonde, spiked, red hair damp and droopy with sweat as he gave a rough growl of the technophile's name, thus prompting Richie to groan, "Oh, Francis...!"

Damn, the secret super-hero thought to himself in the haze of passion, the pyro really _did_ know more about heat than just making fireballs!

--

**A/N:**

**_Fireworks- _Yay, fluff! :D Ish sho kyuute! XD**

**_Screens- _Sadly enough, I was looking through what I have written already in my notebook, and anything even remotely humorous ends after 459. So, it'll still be a chapter or two of funny, but then it's like, all emo or serious (there's some fluff, though, I guess), or whatever. Point being, not funny, so enjoy the funny while it lasts, 'kay? :D**

**_Dolls- _No comment.**

**_Warring-_ No comment.**

**_Scheme-_ Heh, heh, Jack called himself insane. XD**

**_Mimic- _Continuation of _Clone_ from Chapter 27, because Jack's the kind of person who immediately forgets what's told to them, even if its important. XD And besides that, Chase is manipulative, isn't he?**

**_Charades-_ ...Notice I mentioned Jack only found it easy to guess after _ten_ times; like ReaperRain mentioned a while ago, 'Jack Spicer: Proving That Even Genius Can Be Dumb' XD**

**_Overflow_- ...no one uses the term 'deflower' anymore. I think it should be brought back; I like it better than 'take the virginity of'. XD**

**_Ball- _Jack would make a cute otter, right? XD**

**_Dirt- _Finally got around to that Static Shock Jason/Danny one...or in this case, since Hotstreak tops, it'd be Danny/Jason. Gawd, it's just fun to think of Chase being the bottom, even if it's not really Chase. XD But in any case, if no one remembers me talking about it or doesn't know at all, Static Shock stars Danny Cooksey and Jason Marsden as Francis Stone and Richie Foley respectively (which is cool, 'cause my mother's maiden name is Foley), and Jason plays the klutzy, technology-obsessed genius, and Danny, for once, plays the awesome tough guy, which is, for lack of a more _intense_ word, bitchin'. If anyone wants to check out a couple episodes, I found a site that has 'em all here: h t t p : / / w w w . f r e e w e b s . c o m / m e r k 4 5 3 2 9 /**

**So...yeah. That's Chapter 44, and thanks for reading! :D **


	45. Chapter 45

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_441. Alien-_**

Chase was officially in love with an alien.

There was just something about the cute, little would-be invader that practically _screamed_ 'PROBE ME'.

Antenna twitching subtly, picking up on his lover's thought-wave, Jack frowned and accused, "You're having those anal-probe fantasies again, aren't you?! I told you a million times already, we don't _do_ that!"

Chase smirked darkly. "_You_ do."

A faint tinge of orange passed across the extraterrestrials's face, and he stuttered out, "Yeah, w-well, y-you know, I-I..." before giving up and muttering his embarrassment in a language he understood better: his.

And of course, Chase _loved_ it when Jack talked Xzrhn to him, and so nothing really got done for a couple of hours...well...some_one_ did, at least.

**_442. Master-_**

Multi-colored lights swirled about the room, dancing in Chase's eyes as he watched the pale body on the floor carefully, Wuya's mystic chanting falling on deaf ears.

All of a sudden, it seemed, the lights gathered above the unmoving form on the ground before striking directly at the creature's chest, disappearing into the cold body as they did so.

Back arched, lungs filled with air, and a heart began beating for the first time, the unparalleled and undeniably new ache tearing a pained, frightened scream from the newly-animate being.

"Is it done?" Chase demanded eagerly. "Is he-"

"He is truly alive, my king," Wuya assured, "your Jack is human, now."

The man immediately went to his doll's side, holding the upper-half of his body partially upright against his chest and soothingly petting white strands of hair.

"My love," he gently addressed, "are you alright?"

Jack's ruby eyes had the light of the living as he gazed up at the man, unsure of using his new voice, even to obey his owner, but he eventually, softly murmured, "Different. I feel...different, master."

A light, fluttery feeling welled up in Chase's chest, and he smiled, chuckling, "Yes, Jack, being _human_ will do that to you."

**_443. General-_**

Finished speaking with Krystn, the friend of Jack's friend, Chase went with the young woman to fetch Matt, whom the brunette had told him had to be home by 10:00, and the two abruptly froze upon seeing Jack on top of Matt, a saddle on th latter's back and a soldier helmet on the former's head.

"Well," Chase spoke after a long pause, "if it isn't Major Idiot,"

"...and General Stupidity," finished Krystn.

"HEY!" the two dorks shouted at the same time, offended.

**_444. Response-_**

"How goes the project?" Chase demanded of the peons that were his lackeys, his stride firm and confident as he entered the science wing of the ship.

"Oh, Commander, we, ah, weren't expecting you so soon!"

The man frowned darkly. "You've neglected to answer my question, Hayes," he pointed out.

Ah, yes, the project; the infamous interstellar pirate had succumb to loneliness, and commanded of his genetic scientists to construct for him a lover from scratch, to create a human being that would meet his high standards: they had to be beautiful, intelligent, of course, and capable of loving evil.

They were to be submissive, innocent, and everything else Chase wanted in a partner, meaning that the scientists most definitely had their work cut out for them: one mistake in even _one_ chromosome and the whole project would have to be scrapped.

And unfortunately, it had become obvious that not one, but _two_ mistakes had been made, the reason why they, Leonard Hayes in particular, were less than excited that their superior was now checking up on their progress.

"Sir, m-maybe you'd like to come back another time? You see, there's been some, ah, complications-"

"What sort of complications?" Chase demanded.

The other man flinched, stuttering, "W-w-well, s-sir, th-"

"Show me," was the order next given. "I will not let this failure be swept so casually under the rug without my approval."

There was no choice but to lead his superior to where the failed experiment, Subject 001, was being kept before it's termination.

Upon seeing the large, liquid-filled glass column and the being inside it, the space pirate gasped aloud.

"You see, sir," Hayed explained nervously, "there are two major defects in this one due to the negligence of some of the staff: it has turned out to be both male and albinistic, and so, there's really no choice but to-"

"What's wrong with him?" Chase murmured, staring at the experiment in something of a trance.

The adolescent form curled up in a fetal position had caught the man's eye, and he had quickly been struck by it: smooth, porcelain skin, a soft, adorable face completely blank of emotion in a state stronger than sleep, and such a small, frail-looking form, just _begging_ to be protected.

Chase was instantly smitten.

"He's beautiful," he purred. "And his personality is as I requested?"

"I, uh, yes..."

Well..._this_ was a surprise.

Chase approached the containment of his would-be lover, placing a hand on the glass.

And then the unthinkable happened.

Subject 001, though still immature and devoid of real awareness, opened his eyes slightly, not looking at anything (he couldn't), but it was as if he _knew_, knew that this man so close to him was his reason for being.

But that was impossible.

Chase, though, smiled honestly perhaps for the first time in his life and softly questioned, "When is the soonest he can survive without the machines?"

Checking his clipboard quickly, Hayes responded, "36 hours, sir; any sooner and he'll die within a minute of breathing the imperfect air."

"Fine," Chase sighed, gaze still locked on the lovely creature in the oversized test tube, "have me alerted before you do it: I wish to be there."

"Very well, sir; but, ah, we've much work to do to make that happen. It'd be best if you left us to that work."

Instead of being reprimanded or yelled at as the man had expected, his superior only nodded, acquiescing, "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Turning back to his soon-to-be lover, Chase informed, "I'll be back for you soon, my love, my...Jack. For now, you should rest."

Even though there was no way the newly-dubbed Jack could have understood the suggestion, as his mind hadn't been imbued with even a single language yet, the young male's blank, red eyes slipped obediently closed.

**_445. Midnight-_**

Jack, as a newly-made vampire, _loved_ it when the clock struck midnight on the night of the new moon.

As a fledgling, he was unaffected, but an elder vampire, like his master certainly was: something happened to those more experienced undead on that night that made them go completely lust-crazed for their mates, but because of the ancient Code, they couldn't outright take them or do anything to them without consent, and Jack always found it fun to play with Chase for awhile, get him even more worked up before finally letting him have what he wanted.

He _did _ so love it when Chase begged for it...

**_446. Escape-_**

After the daring escape from prison and all, Chase had kept to his word: they were perfectly safe and living in the utmost of luxuries.

Yeah, the man was still killing people, but Jack trusted his lover implicitly, and never feared for his life.

Chase had promised he'd never kill him, and Chase _never_ went back on his word.

**_447. Cream-_**

Chase's sharp, golden eyes intently watched his nemesis, specifically the two pale, white fingers stirring his tea with a grape lollipop.

He was such a _freak_; the kid had to have twenty sugar cubes in there already and yet he was stirring it with candy.

Besides that, who the hell puts (what had to be nearly half a gallon of) _cream_ in their tea?!

All in all, J disgusted him: his voracious sweet-tooth (he _lived_ off sugar), his ruffled, unkempt orangish hair, those blank, red eyes and the dark shadows under them, a single black, drawn hook underneath the left, his peculiar way of holding things with only two (at maximum, three) fingers, and of course, his odd manner of sitting, knees to his chest.

It was _weird_, it was _freakish_, it was...it was...almost _cute_...

No! J was his enemy, an obstacle to his bringing of justice!

"Young-san?" the albino asked at the suddenly-tense silence, nibbling habitually at his thumbnail. "You're very quiet; your odd behavior has increased your probability of being Kira by 3%."

Chase scoffed. "For gods sake, J, a man can't get lost in thought without being accused of murder?"

The lanky male offered a half-grin, taking a sip of his cup of sugar (with a bit of tea in it, of course). "Not while I'm around, Young-san," he teased. "Let's return to our research, yes?"

Hannibal would be getting on his case about being friendly with his enemy, but the shinigami's opinion was irrelevant; Chase _would_ find out J's real name, and when he did, the man only _hoped_, eyes locked firmly on the way the detective suckled childishly on his grape-flavored stirring rod, red eyes scanning over some official-looking papers, that he could muster the will to write it in his Death Note.

**_448. Film-_**

Chase watched, utterly entranced by the young man on the stage as he sang.

"Everybody sees/ and everyone agrees/ that you and I are wrong/ and it's been that way too long/ take it as it comes/ and be thankful when it's done/ there's so many ways to act/ and you cannot take it back..."

The youth's red eyes were dark and hooded as he removed his black fedora and tossed it into the audience, repeating, "No, you cannot take it back...It's those many shades of black/ there's so many shades of black..."

Chase sighed as the youth kept repeating the ending line of his song passionately, holding the retrieved hat safely against his chest; his old man'd be _real_ disappointed that he wouldn't 'be after some nice young filly to marry', but he couldn't help it.

He was head-over-heels for Jack Spicer, possibly _the_ most famous singer of 1923, and he knew it.

He couldn't be the first to have fallen for the young man's film-like quality, the white of his skin and the black of all his clothing (the ruby-red eyes made for a wonderful contrast, by the way) but he _would_ probably be the first to act on his desires.

He'd _surely_ be allowed backstage with the star's prized fedora in his possession...

**_449. Sunshine-_**

Jack hated it when Chase ventured into areas he couldn't very safely go, places where the sunshine was so bright and hot that it was unbearable for an albino like him, mostly deserts and the Middle East, but he was glad that Chase never stayed too long, and quickly returned to the goth's field, the cool, dark blackness of their shared bedroom, where Jack would glady express how badly he'd missed his lover while he was gone.

**_450. Anguish-_**

Chase clutched at his chest in anguish, choking back a startlingly-emotional sob at the full realization of the truth: Jack Spicer was actually _dead_, gone forever. Committed suicide because he'd been told by everyone that he was worthless one too many times until he himself believed it and consequently took his own life.

Chase had never wanted...never meant...he hadn't really _thought_ he'd...a helpless shudder rippled through his spine, his dragon forcing away all human pride to give a low, mourning howl of ultimate loss and sadness, a bestial sound that no human could make, purely an instinctive cry of helplessness at the loss of a mate.

It hurt Jack to see Chase like this, but...it was for the best.

The warlord had to learn that he wasn't treating him right and that he wouldn't stand for it anymore, and if it took a faked suicide using a mindless clone to get his point across, then so be it!

He'd let the man know he was alive soon, within the week, even, but for now, it would be best to let him stew in his depression for a day or two, to let him get a good feel of what it was like to be kept from the one you love by something of your own fault.

Hopefully, then, Chase would welcome him with open arms instead of closed doors.

--

**A/N:**

**_Alien- _Continuation of _Invasion_ from Chapter 37; the anal-probing myth is brought into severe question. XD**

**_Master- _Continuation of _Dolls _from Chapter 44, because _no_ Jack should be without a soul; it's creepy, considering how not...soulless he is, generally. And so, he now lives.**

**_General- _Another self-and-friend insertion; but that is _so_ what Matt and Jack would have done. XD**

**_Response-_ This is one of those ones I've been thinking about forever but never found an excuse to write it; I saw the word 'response', and somehow, magically, this popped into my head. XD Still, though, basic summary: Chase is a space-pirate, Jack's a genetically-engineered human-being, and Hayes is possibly the most unimportant character ever.**

**_Midnight-_ Vampires are fun; I like them. :)**

**_Escape- _Continuation of _Trial_ and _Break-Out_ in Chapters 40 and 41, just a quick recap of what Chase and Jack have been up to since escaping prison.**

**_Cream-_ ...In case you can't tell, I saw the live-action Death Note movie in theaters when I wrote this, and I was like, "Omigawd, YES!" and so I wrote it; while I admit Jack isn't as weird as L (who is amazing, by the way), he...well, let's be honest, he's only, like, a couple of weird habits away. o.0 And I think Chase makes a good Light. :D**

**_Film_- Many Shades of Black by The Raconteurs has been in my head for, like, two weeks, and it seemed sort or 20s-ish...I don't know, point is, this exists, now. -.-**

**_Sunshine- _No comment.**

**_Anguish- _Another idea I've entertained for a long time; I think Jack has the capacity to realistically fake a suicide, and so by doing that, you know, Chase realizes what he's lost and emos for awhile, and then Jack steps in and explains he did it to teach Chase a lesson; he'd be seven different kinds of _pissed_, obviously, and I figure he'd probably pull an _Unexplained_ (Chapter 43), but, at least, he'd know better than to kill Jack. Sort of a 'learn from tragedy' experience. -.-**

**So, there's Chapter 45, and just so you guys know, my computer is a terrible whore, and it's only by miracle that I'm able to finish up this chapter; there's actually a repair-guy coming to my house tomorrow to look at it, and if the problem's fixable, he'll fix it, but if it needs to be brought in, I'll be without computer for 4-5 days, so...you know, don't expect updates from me until next-weekish unless I tell you otherwise.**

**In any case, though, thanks for reading, and I hope you liked the chapter! :D**


	46. Chapter 46

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_451. Diagonally-_**

"Gotcha, Chase!" Jack crowed victoriously, causing the man to demand, "Where?"

"There," the goth pointed out four black checkers in a line, "diagonally!"

"Can I play?" Wuya asked, stepping into the room.

"Aw, Wuya..." Jack smiled shaking his head.

Chase bluntly growled, "No."

Connect-Four was a fun game for the main Heylin three, especially when their normal dialogue synced up with the commercials.

**_452. National Security-_**

Keeping Prince Jack safe was his duty, a matter of national security.

Of course, thinking on how good in bed the royal was, quickly followed by his growing feelings for the pale youth, Chase decided there was nothing wrong in having a bit of personal interest in successful performance of his task as a guard.

**_453. Enigma-_**

J was an enigma, the man decided, he really was.

Not through any fault in his looks (he was gorgeous) or personality (charming, too), but because of his own lack of both want and need, Chase _had_ been a virgin.

He had absolutely no idea how the detective, such an awkward, strange person, had managed to do it, but here they were in bed together, the white-skinned redhead curled up asleep beside him and sucking his thumb like a two-year-old.

And what was worse, J had very nearly coaxed a confession from him in the throes of passion.

He was playing on the edge, now, and with fire for sure, but he was certain he had enough self-control to keep his identity as Kira under wraps (Hannibal would, naturally, laugh in his face for that thought later, claiming it as an excuse to justify more sex with the albino in the future), and besides, forcing heated confessions during love-making went both ways...

**_454. Metro-_**

The first Showdown the Chase and Jack had shown up to as a couple was a _complete_ embarrassment for the Xiaolin side...and not just because they'd lost.

"Gawd, Chase, _really_? What'd you see in _Omi_? I mean, he's a total midget, with the stubby, little limbs, and geez, have you _seen_ his head? It's like Jupiter!"

"I don't know," the warlord admitted with a sneer, "but what about the fire-brat? What was _your_ obsession with _her_? She has no figure, the fashion sense of a bored three-year-old, and for the sake of the gods, have you ever met a pushier bitch in your life?"

The girl's indignant rage was cut off as Jack spoke, "Ya' got me there, but I _did_ have a crush on Clay for awhile, too, you know, during my 'aww, aren't good guys cute?' phase."

"He fucks pigs, Spicer," Chase bluntly stated. "Could you really stand for the jokes made about you if you started fucking him?"

"No," Jack admitted, "but you're one to talk; I _know_ I caught you staring at Raimundo a couple of times, and he's a _flaming_ homo. The super-hetero facade just makes it more obvious."

"If you ask me, he's metrosexual," Chase defended, to which Jack cackled, " ''Metrosexual'?! Please! That's how it starts: a little waxing and eyebrow-tweezing to please the ladies, and then learning how to ignore your gag-reflex to please the _gentlemen_!"

"You know," Chase abruptly decided, "it's pointless to debate on the flaws of past interests: they are in the past and are unimportant. _We_ are the present."

The goth smiled. "Well, that's the truth; let's get the Wu and go home to, uh, _celebrate the present..._"

Easily taking possession of the mystical object, the warlord smirked at the teen, agreeing, "I like the way you think, lover..."

And the two were gone, leaving four very insulted monks to figure out what the _hell_ that was about.

**_455. Syndrome-_**

"_Jack_?" Chase muttered disbelievingly at the powerful black-and-white clothed redhead before him, causing the super-villain to smirk wickedly.

"S'right," he answered smugly, "but if I ever hear you call me that again, you'll find yourself without a gender; it's Syndrome, now."

Memories, recent ones, of how cruel this young man had been, absolutely massacring Hex (his sidekick, Wuya) and the manner in which he himself had been captured and run ragged just trying to survive flooded back, and it seemed utterly impossible that the bright-eyed, hopeful boy he had known nearly twenty years ago could now be this cynical, dark-hearted young man.

"Ja-Syndrome...what...why?"

"Why?" the albino repeated in disbelief, "_Why_? All I ever wanted was your attention! I looked up to you, you were my _hero_," Chase didn't feel it was appropriate to mention the irony of he, a villain, being someone's hero, "and you sent me away! I just wanted you to...I just wanted you to like me, Semper..."

The older man was stunned. For as long as he'd lived (immortal and unchanging as he was), no one had ever said such a thing to him.

It was...new.

Syndrome, having succumb to emotional weakness, had collapsed to his knees, desperately forcing himself to keep from crying it out; he wasn't leaving himself open for attack, though, _certainly_ not.

He was too shrewd for that, as he had two robotic guards on either side of him, though Semper knew that they would only move to action if provoked.

The man kept his movements slow, predictable as he knelt to Syndrome's level, holding him close. "I want you to call me Chase from now on," he said.

The redhead gasped abruptly, still a fan at heart. "You...you told me your name..." he whispered in awe; as a fan, he knew very well that no one was _ever_ given Semper's real name except...

"Of course I told you," the elder scoffed, "I _always_ give my name to my partner."

Rage forgotten to the mercurial youth in the face of his idol's statement, Syndrome happily squealed, "Partner?! Really?! Wait, you're not just saying that so I won't have my Giant Octo-bot tear you to shreds, are you?"

Chase nearly laughed at how easily the villain's tune was changed, but instead answered, "It's no trick, Jack; I _am_ short a partner, what with Hex's remains already rotting at the bottom of a swamp-pond, and besides that, it seems I underestimated your potential. You've grown into a powerful young man, and I am not so foolish to ignore this opportunity: I will gladly take you as my apprentice."

Red eyes brightened and he hugged his evil hero, promising, "You won't regret this, Chase; I _won't_ let you down."

"No," the immortal muttered, surprised at how _right_ Jack's arms felt around him, "I'm sure you won't..."

**_456. Favor-_**

When Jack had reminded Chase that he owed him a favor (for saving the life of one of his warriors with his technology about a month ago), the warlord hadn't expected the goth to request the kinkiest, most outlandish and humiliating sex he had _ever_ heard of (which, as long as he'd lived, was _saying_ something), involving handcuffs, a mango, a car battery, and at least four cans of whipped cream. Most shockingly of all...

He hadn't expected to _like_ it.

**_457. Civil War-_**

Chase hadn't figured Jack as a Civil War buff, but he was now paying with his dignity for that oversight.

Well, at the very least, the goth said he made the sexiest General Ulysses S. Grant he and his reenactment buddies had ever had.

**_458. Oar-_**

Catching his lover staring at him, Jack blushingly explained, "My mom brought this oar home today, and when I told her it wasn't 'the authentic oar from Oliver Twist', she demanded I polish every inch of it for lying to her."

Chase stared at him for a long moment. "Your very intelligent existence is like the copulation of two mentally-retarded donkeys resulting in a unicorn," he eventually declared.

**_459. Getaway Car-_**

Chase was, for lack of a better, more descriptive word, _pissed_.

He didn't know quite how Jack had done it, but his hair had been dyed bright green (temporary, as the goth knew the limits of messing with the dragon's hair), he had been forced into a purple suit and clown-like makeup, and he'd been dragged to a comic convention.

What was worse?

Jack wouldn't stop pestering him.

"Mista J, how 'bout a kiss?"

Chase growled, batting 'Harley Quinn' away as he snarled, "Get off of me, you ditz!"

Jack giggled, grabbing the man's arm and hanging off of it adoringly. "Ya' know ya' love it, Mista J; now loosen up and have some fun, eh?"

"_No_."

People had started to gather and stare, muttering things to the effect of, 'Best Joker/Harley couple EVER', and of course, the attention whore Jack was, the young man in Gotham-girl drag played up his act even more, nuzzling Chase's shoulder happily and affectionately while the elder tried to get away.

And again, knowing Jack, his clumsiness took over, and he ended up tripping over his own feet, bumping into a booth which fell over into another booth and so on until every stand in the entire place was on the ground.

The crowd stared, the silence totally tense until Chase began cackling at the misfortune, Jack then standing (encouraged by Chase's in-character action) and grabbing his lover's wrist, proudly declaring, "Ta' tha' getaway car!"

And 'Joker' and 'Harley' ran off, leaving the small audience to clap and cheer uproariously, believing that the whole incident was a show.

**_460. Armada-_**

"Chase," Jack whined, red eyes shiny with tears, "th-the armada called to check in on my progress; th-they're sending a troop to take me back to Xzru!"

The man's eyes widened, and he grabbed the alien's shoulders, soothing, "Hush, Jack, hush; I need a minute to think."

Jack nodded, cuddling as close to his lover as possible for comfort. After a long, tense moment, Chase spoke, "They can't take you...if they can't find you..."

Jack blinked. "Chase?"

"Contact the armada again; tell them you were discovered, and the humans forced you to flee to a neighboring galaxy and give them a location extremely close to the sun."

The alien's two sets of eyes widened. "They'll fly right into it...it'd kill them and any other troops they send afterwards..."

"Yes," Chase assured, "and with no other clue to your whereabouts, and troops continuously dying in the effort to find an invader that may not even be alive anymore, they'll give up."

Realization dawned on the alien boy, and he smiled adoringly at his lover, cuddling up beside him. "Oh, Chase," he cooed, "I love you; I never want to leave you."

The man smiled, toying idly with a white antenna as he agreed, "I don't want you to leave either, lover, and I won't _let_ you."

--

**A/N:**

**_Diagonally- _Ha, I totally remember that commercial; I couldn't resist the matching dialogue, sorry. XD  
**

**_National Security-_ Continuation of _Dagger _and _Returning_ from Chapter 24; not much to say about it.  
**

**_Enigma-_ Continuation of _Cream_ from Chapter 45, because L is a master at not only the art of _de_ducing, but also _se_ducing, and I decided to tack that trait onto J (Jack, in case there's someone who's totally oblivious to everything and is even now wondering, 'Where am I?'). XD  
**

**_Metro-_ I just wanted to get some monk-bashing in, I think; I haven't done it in awhile or enough at all, really, so...this is my outlet. :D **

**_Syndrome- _...Anyone seen The Incredibles from, like, a bajillion years ago? Jack and Syndrome are kinda similar, except Jack has his hair in a non-little-plastic-troll-with-crazy-hair style: they're both technological geniuses scorned by their idols, except...you know, in my short, Jack is a bit more forgiving than Syndrome was. XD Also, Semper in Latin means either 'always' or 'forever'; it's been just about a full year since I took Latin for about six years, and I can't remember much of it anymore. XD Either meaning, though, is the idea I was going for. **

**_Favor- _...I like mangos; they're delicious. XD  
**

**_Civil War- _No comment. **

**_Oar_- Jack's mom is stupid, and Chase ponders on how Jack's intellect is possible.  
**

**_Getaway Car-_ Matt is concocting a crazy scheme to drag me to a comic convention dressed as the Joker while I wear a Harley Quinn costume, which is how I got this idea; once I read this to him, he's decided that that's exactly what we must do. XD  
**

**_Armada-_ Continuation of _Invasion _and _Alien _from Chapter 37 and 45 respectively; Jack doesn't want to go home, and Chase is making sure he doesn't have to.**

**And, because I feel the need to mention it, my computer is a-ok, and there should be no further problems with it. :D And in addition to that, I've reached and surpassed my '500 before summer starts' goal! Now I've just got to post them sometime between my 4-5 finals this week and 2 finals next week, or at least by that stupid Field Day thing on Friday next week, which is the official last day of school. -.-"**

**Regardless, though, that's Chapter 46, so I hope you liked it and thanks for reading! :D**


	47. Chapter 47

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_461. Space-_**

Jack heard the transmissions from his radio, the demands to reveal his whereabouts if he was, indeed, alive, but he paid no mind to the communications from space as his human lover sucked hard at his neck, marking him as his own.

He was where he belonged, on Earth with Chase, and _no one_ would take that away.

**_462. Menace-_**

"You rotten _menace_," Chase snarled, hand locked around Jack's throat, "what do you have to say for yourself?!"

Weakly, quietly, the goth squeaked out, "Love...you..."

The warlord inhaled sharply at the confession, surprised despite himself, and his grip went slack, Jack's barely-conscious body thudding dully to the floor.

He'd been told, 'I love you' before, of _course_ he had, but it was always a flimsy truth, never really _meant_ when it was said.

Spicer, though...he meant it, _felt_ it with all of his heart and soul as proven by the fact that he'd chosen to make it the potential-last thing he ever said when the goth was sure he was going to die.

Chase was shell-shocked; he had no idea where to go from here.

Jack gently rubbed his aching throat for a short moment, coughing slightly before apprehensively taking advantage of Chase's shock, giving the man a soft, loving hug, placing a quick, tender kiss to his cheek and then running for his life.

Chase caught him, returning the hug somewhat uncertainly and burying his nose in the youth's fire-red hair, not missing the way his heartbeat slowed at the scent of vanilla and machine oil.

Was it possible? Had he found...his mate? After _so_ long?

"Spicer..." he began slowly, "I...would like you to spend a week with me, here."

A trial period, of course.

"Really?!" the teen squealed in excited surprise, "You mean it?!"

"Yes," Chase barely murmured, "I mean it..."

**_463. Cinema-_**

Chase loved it when Jack decided to go to the cinema with him, because the goth had a fatal attraction to horror films, and it was always a pleasure when Jack whimpered in terror and clung to him like a frightened child.

The majority of him said he liked it because it gave him a feeling of power over his lover.

The tiny part of him that still respected truth and goodness, however, insisted that it was because he liked the feeling of protecting his helpless, young beloved from harm, real or imagined.

**_464. Password-_**

If Jack had ever known that the password to the furthest, darkest regions of Chase's citadel was 'NOBIAL,' he would have cooed in joy that the man thought highly enough of him to use such a personally-descriptive word (albino) to protect his deepest secrets.

**_465. Gladiator-_**

As a favored gladiator, Chase was allowed all of the best perks, and that was something he truly deserved for fighting for his life every week or so.

Of course, he wouldn't _be_ the favored gladiator if the emperor knew the extra perks he'd been taking on the side with his son...

Regardless, Chase liked living on the edge, and with the way Jack was devoted to him, there was no _way_ he'd be giving up that particular perk anytime soon.

**_466. Mine-_**

Chase loved to let Jack know that he was his: 'you're _my_ lover, _my_ mate, mine, mine, _mine_'; he never missed an opportunity to remind the youth that he belonged only to the dragon warlord.

Of course, little did Chase know that the more he told Jack, 'mine', the more the albino labeled the man the same.

**_467. Clown-_**

When Wuya had accused him of fucking a 'sad clown', Chase had deftly snapped the woman's neck, growling, "For your information, he's coulrophobic," before throwing her off of his mountain.

**_468. Dictionary-_**

Jack exhaled deeply, shelving the very last dictionary in it's place with a sense of satisfaction.

_Finally_, every last book was in it's proper section.

Lord Young would be _so_ pleased with him!

"Spicer," a smooth voice drawled from seemingly nowhere, "it appears you've finished your task."

Whirling about, the young librarian agreed, "Yes, sire, I have! Is everything to your liking?"

The man was silent for a long moment.

"How familiar are you with the books in my study?" he eventually asked.

"Very, my lord," the youth chirped without hesitation, "I've read every book here from cover to cover."

This had apparently been the answer Chase was looking for, and he gave a sharp, dirty grin, revealing a book from behind his back, bold, pink letters on a red background reading, 'KAMA SUTRA: THE FULLY-ILLUSTRATED EDITION'. "Even this one, Spicer?" he wondered.

The librarian flushed darkly at the recollection of the book with no words, only detailed pictures, and he hesitantly admitted, "Y-yes..."

If it were possible, the elder's grin became filthier.

"Then I'm sure you remember the image on the seventh page?"

The blush on snow-white cheeks flared brighter, burned hotter. "Yes, sire, I recall..."

Feigning ignorance, Chase wondered, "Now, if only I could remember just how that position worked...perhaps you could remind me?"

"M-my lord?!" Jack squealed, shocked, "Y-you aren't implying what I _think_ you're implying, are you?!"

The librarian's answer was a rough, lustful kiss before Chase assured, "If you aren't naked and your ankles aren't behind your ears in sixty seconds, I'll stop implying and never imply again."

Jack immediately made use of his speed and flexibility to obey his lord's order lest he lose his chance permanently.

**_469. Penance-_**

Snow-white hands clutching a rosary were shaking violently, its beads clicking against each other and drowning out the very soft, whimpering murmurs of about the twentieth Hail Mary.

Jack Spicer was a wreck of a priest at the moment: quivering and sobbing like a three-year-old girl in the church confessional.

It was no use; a demon such as the one that plagued him was too strong to be stopped by even the Holy powers of the Church, but Jack found comfort in being there, _especially_ since he was about to die.

He was a _sinner_. He had lain with a _man_, the very devil that was even now after him. He couldn't die an unclean man, he _had_ to offer his penance to Him so he could attain the splendor of Heaven.

He was half-way through his final Hail Mary (after which he had intended to start on the Our Father) when the door to the confessional was smashed open, a looming, menacing figure's silhouette illuminated by moonlight through stained glass.

Gold, curling horns atop the being's head glinted in the light, black-green hair spilling down the male's back in wild, spiky locks. Animalistic, golden eyes with slit pupils glared down at him, sharp, white fangs bared in a furious sneer.

"Did you think you could escape me, priest?" the demon snarled. "Did you think I would _let_ you escape me? Fool!"

Jack whimpered in terror, murmuring, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name-"

"Don't you _dare_ spew that filth at me, you whore!" the devil demanded, snatching up the albino by his front, "I won't tolerate it!"

A high, squeaky noise escaped Jack's throat, tears streaming down his face as he pleaded, "Chase, d-don't, I _beg_ of you!"

"Don't _what_?" the bigger male mocked, "Don't bad-mouth your precious faith? I'll do what I _please_, bitch, and that's what you are: a bitch, _my_ bitch. And as my bitch, you will do as I say!"

Jack began outright _crying_ as he was thrown over the demon's shoulder, the next words to come out of the older male's mouth making the poor young priest's heart drop like a lump of lead into his stomach.

"I am taking you to Hell with me, Spicer: you will never see the light of day again, and you will learn to like it."

**_470. Territory-_**

Animals marked their territory with bodily excretions.

People marked their territory with signs, deeds, and words.

Chase Young was a bit different: _he_ marked his territory, his mate, by fucking him into the sheets for about four solid hours, littering Jack's pale, white skin with bloody red bites of ownership.

--

**A/N:**

**_Space- _Continuation of _Invasion, Alien,_ and _Armada_, just a bit of closure. :)  
**

**_Menace-_ No comment.  
**

**_Cinema- _No comment.  
**

**_Password-_No comment. **

**_Gladiator- _Chase's needs are simple: food, a roof under which to live, his sword, and the emperor's son to screw around with. XD **

**_Mine- _I think a lot of people who write chack inadvertently neglect Jack's possessive aspects in order to focus on Chase's; Jack has 'em, too, just a bit more internal and subtle.  
**

**_Clown- _Coulrophbia is the irrational fear of clowns; other than that, overreact much, Chase? XD **

**_Dictionary- _Continuation of _Archive _from Chapter 31; Chase likes, as internet geeks would say, pr0n, apparently. XD  
**

**_Penance- _I know Chase seems a little harsh...well, ok, a _lot_ harsh, but I think it's more in-character than a lot of my other stuff; I've already written a continuation to it in which Jack _does _adjust to life in Hell, and Chase sort of mellows out and gets cuddly with him. :D  
**

**_Territory- _No comment.**

**And** **that'd be Chapter 47, so I hope you enjoyed it! :D**


	48. Chapter 48

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_471. Bloodshed-_**

He was sick of it.

He was tired, tired of all the bloodshed. The only regret Jack could think of as he put the pistol in his mouth was that he couldn't end for his people the war as he was about to end his life.

He cocked the gun and nearly pulled the trigger when a single reason not to entered his mind: Chase.

That little page _idolized_ him; if he killed himself, what might the tween be inspired to do?

Slowly, he pulled the gun away, putting the safety on and shoving it back in his desk drawer just as Chase walked in, a large stack of papers in his arms.

"Some new forms for you to sign, Mr. Spicer-...you don't look well, sir," the boy noted. "Are you alright?"

The man smiled at the Chinese youth, assuring, "Yeah, Chase, I'm fine, now; let's see those forms, alright?"

**_472. Neglect-_**

Jack whimpered softly at the painful hunger that wracked his body, laying his paws over his eyes.

He was _so_ miserable!

No dog, even a tiny Jack Russel like him, should have to suffer this kind of neglect!

His infected neck started itching again, and his back paw came up to scratch at the metal embedded in his flesh, gross, yellow-green pus flowing a little bit more with every swipe of his claws.

No, he amended to himself, this was more than neglect: this was _hell_.

A quiet 'mrow' noise caught his torn, triangle-shaped ear, and he looked at the fence to his left, spotting a near-midnight colored feline with eyes that glowed like stars.

Giving a curious whine at the animal, Jack sat up, tail wagging at the other creature's company.

The cat looked at him for a moment before leaping off of the fence and into the bushes below.

The terrier's ears drooped sadly as he lost sight of the animal, and he fell back to the ground on his belly in severe disappointment.

A sudden, _very_ close purring noise caused reddish-pink eyes to snap open, startled to see the feline right in front of him, and Jack scrambled backwards a bit in fear.

The cat got even closer and picked the rope that tied him to the fence up in his mouth and began gnawing on it. It wasn't long before it snapped, and the dog was...free.

Dear god, he was really free!

The terrier soon paused his excitement: where would he go? What would he do? Or, better yet, where _could_ he go? And what _could_ he do?

The answer was nowhere and not too much.

Small, sharp teeth nipped at his ear, and Jack yelped; giving a curious look to the cat, asking for a reason for the bite.

The feline bared his neck, showing off his black, Italian leather collar and the 24-karat identification tag that read, 'CHASE YOUNG: IF FOUND, PLEASE CONTACT HANNIBAL AT 555-6387'

The point hadn't been to show Jack his information, but to show that he was owned, and that he was, apparently, owned by someone _very_ rich.

Chase gestured back to the fence and turned around, walking towards it, thus indicating that the dog should follow him.

The dark-furred animal easily jumped onto the fence, nimbly leaping down on the other side while Jack clumsily followed, only barely making it over.

The terrier didn't know what to expect from Chase or his owner, but he knew it couldn't be _any_ worse than what _his_ owner'd already put him through.

**_473. Helicopter-_**

"To the Hinden-Jack!"

Chase felt psychic, watching the Hinden-Jack meet the same fate as the Jack-Copter in front of his citadel in a fiery explosion, wondering aloud, "As rich as you are, how can you _afford_ these things, Spicer?"

**_474. Sarcophagus-_**

"This...this is what you were buried in?"

Chase nodded at his younger lover's question, taking the goth's pale, white hand and placing it on the golden sarcophagus.

_"Though I was dubbed a traitor, it was deemed wrong for me to be buried in squalor."_

They had reached an agreement: they would both speak their native languages to each other so that Chase could learn modern English and Jack could brush up on his ancient Egyptian. If something was lost in translation, the confused one would ask and the other would clarify.

"Wow," Jack muttered, impressed, "they must have really thought highly of you. This is a lot of gold and gems for a 'traitor'."

The formerly-deceased man was silent for a long moment. _"You truly don't remember me, my mortal Thoth?"_

Jack felt a tingle course his spine at the centuries-old nickname and informed, "No...I mean, a little, I think, but not totally. It's mostly feelings and images; there's no back-story to them."

The high-priest felt hope strike through his black, withered heart and pleaded, "_Do you think you ever **will** remember? I couldn't bear to live in a world where my love existed but could not truly love me back."_

Jack's red eyes widened at the honesty in the statement and he assured, "Yeah, I think so. We've only spent a couple of days together, and a _lot's_ come back; I should remember you and everything else in my old life in time."

Chase smiled, embracing his lover fondly. _"Now **that** is something I have plenty of; I will wait for you, beloved, as long as it takes."_

**_475. Disagreement-_**

"I do not have a fetish, Spicer," Chase firmly disagreed, crossing his arms.

"Bull," Jack decided, "_everybody_ has a fetish. Personally, I'm into the Asian persuasion, and that's why I had a crush on Kimiko for, like, two weeks, and why I'm head-over-heels for _your_ Chinese ass. Now, come on, what's your thing? Bondage, threesomes, toys, bestiality, feet? Seriously, what? We're together, and there's no real way you can _decide_ to indulge _my_ kink, 'cause it's biological, so I wanna indulge _yours_: it's only fair. C'mon, tell me, Chase! Even if it's _really_ kinky and out there, I'll do it for you!"

The warlord turned away muttering, "You already _have_ 'indulged my kink', Spicer..."

"What?" the goth gaped, dumbfounded, "I have?"

The man nodded, informing, "Mine is also biological."

Chase shoved his mate back to the bed, straddling his waist with a hungry grin.

"In all my years, I've found nothing sexier than an albino of European descent..."

**_476. Sarsaparilla-_**

"Give me a sarsaparilla, and make it snappy."

"Y-yes, sir!"

Jack was petrified; four years he'd owned this saloon, and not once had an outlaw showed up.

That had changed the minute _he_ walked in: Chase Young, the Dragon of the Far East, they called him, and _boy_, did he have a record on him, complete with a _massive_ bounty on his head, $3000 (only trumped by the infamous Hannibal "The Bean", and even then, only by $500)!

Either way, Jack knew that if he wanted to keep his bar (much less his _life_), he should keep his mouth shut and let the outlaw do as he pleased.

The young man placed the drink in front of his customer, fully-prepared to walk away and not receive any kind of payment, but a gloved hand lay the fee (plus tip) on the counter, and since it would be rude not to take it (and with criminals, rude might mean your head), Jack casually accepted the money and put it in with the rest of the days profits until he could move it to his safe.

Upon seeing the paper-white hand against the contrast of the counter's dark wood, Chase looked up, scrutinizing the albino with his piercing, golden eyes.

"Well, now, would you mind telling me why you're behind that counter instead of up on that stage back there, barkeep?"

Startled by the question, Jack squeaked, "Pardon?"

The outlaw looked the youth up and down appreciatively, informing, "You're very easy on the eyes, in case no one's said as much; you'd do better _performing_ for your customers instead of serving drinks to them."

The bartender blushed, embarrassed, as he stuttered, "W-well, sir, that's what my showgirls are for."

Chase was quiet for a long moment, making Jack terrified for that long moment that he'd said the wrong thing.

"What would you say to being my woman?"

"What?!" the youth gasped, "Me?!"

Chase nodded firmly. "You seem interesting, if a bit jumpy, and you're not hard to look at, to boot; I dare say we'd work well together."

"Oh, my, sir, that's...that's a bit presumptuous, don't you think? I'll at least need a little time to-mmph!"

The outlaw had stood from his stool and roughly captured the albino's mouth with his own, his leather-encased hand gripping the back of his skull to keep him from moving away.

When Chase finally released him after what seemed like ages, Jack's knees felt like jelly and he could barely support his own weight, his chest expanding and contracting deeply as he tried to catch his breath.

Feeling totally helpless to the criminal's whims, the youth dazedly murmured, "M'kay..."

**_477. Designer-_**

"Oh, dear lord," Chase groaned, "she's wearing another ridiculous outfit."

"Ugh, you're right," Jack agreed, "it's totally awful; what's with the tutu and combat boots?"

The two were engaging in one of their favorite past-times: juding a certain Japanese monk's clothing choices. It brought them together as a couple, and it allowed them to indulge in the stereotype that gays were excellent judges of fashion without being criticized.

"She must have _no_ care whatsoever for what others think of her," Chase deduced with a sneer.

"Seriously," Jack scoffed at Kimiko through the Eye Spy Orb, "her purse isn't even _designer_!"

The warlord tensed and stared challengingly at his lover.

"What?" the goth asked at the look, to which Chase replied only, "No."

**_478. Protocol-_**

Chase had said it was only proper protocol, only meant to warn him of the consequences of crime and to prepare him for what would happen if he ever got caught committing crimes, but Jack was understandably dubious.

There was no _way_ such passion in being bent over his step-mother's washing machine and fucked all the way to Bermuda was "_only_ protocol".

**_479. Sash-_**

Chase Young's sash was a source of considerable pride for the warrior for the same reason as his long hair: his skills in combat were so great that not a single one of his enemies had managed to catch hold of either and cause him disadvantage in battle.

Someone, now, had finally been able to take it, but the warlord was decidedly more amiable towards the situation than one would expect.

So, one of the clumsiest people in possibly the entire known universe had honestly gotten his sash away from him and bound his hands with it!

What did that matter when it was a bed-post his hands were tied to and there was a teenaged, hormone-crazed albino sitting on his stomach and kissing his neck?

Besides, he'd obviously be telling Jack that he'd 'let' him win, anyways.

**_480. Saloon-_**

Jack sighed, leaning into his lover's body and ignoring the slight jostling from Hunter's speedy gallop.

He'd had to leave his saloon behind, and even though it was sad to abandon his place of business (and disappointing that he couldn't be privy to the wacky, misguided antics of Sheriff Omi and Deputy Raimundo anymore), he had a feeling that this would be better for him, that _Chase_, despite his reputation as having a heart blacker than the blackest black, was better for him than that dried-up, old dust-town that was even now fading farther and farther behind the two riders.

--

**A/N:**

**_Bloodshed- _Jack is an official of some sort, probably getting a lot of flack for not being a magical war-stopper, as officials are supposed to be, and he almost folded under the pressure save for his young assistant's indirect interference.  
**

**_Neglect- _Gawd, Animal Planet cop shows and that one commercial they show to that In the Arms of the Angels or whatever song it is depress me; there's always horribly abused animals that even if they do manage to save them, they end up dying within a week or something. -.- Urgh, basically, I was thinking of that kind of thing when I started this, but I'm not so cruel as to let Jack stay that way; Chase will be good to him, and Hannibal's never home, so...they'll pretty much have free range of the mansion. There's a continuation to this somewhere in Chapter 51 when I get around to posting that, so...yeah. :D **

**_Helicopter-_ Blatant joke theft from Family Guy again; pretend it didn't happen. XD  
**

**_Sarcophagus-_ Continuation of _Hieroglyphics_ from Chapter 33. **

**_Disagreement- _Nothing to say, really, except I think I only wrote this so I could finally use the phrase, 'Asian persuasion'. XD  
**

**_Sarsaparilla- _I tried to keep dialogue pretty standard so that it didn't seem too out of place for the surroundings, but I tried to keep a lot of slang out of it, too; it's hard to imagine Chase or Jack speaking with a Western inflection, and I couldn't really do it in good conscience. -.-"  
**

**_Designer- _As per my classic line, and I'm quoting myself here, "Oh, Jack, you're so ridiculous!" XD  
**

**_Protocol- _Continuation of _Identity _from Chapter 39, in which Jack is taught a lesson, a very _sexy_ lesson at that, in which fun is had by all, and he'll probably keep robbing stuff now just to get more of Chase's attention. XD  
**

**_Sash- _Chase would never admit that Jack actually got it away from him, but he's a bit too distracted at the moment to really care all that much. XD  
**

**_Saloon-_Continuation of _Sarsaparilla_ from this chapter, because Chase and Jack need to ride off into the sunset, and Sheriff Omi is the funniest damn thing this side of the Mississippi...and the other side...or basically the entire Earth, I suppose is a more encompassing description. XD**

**And there's Chapter 48, so...yeah. Thanks for reading! :D**


	49. Chapter 49

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_481. Beanstalk-_**

"...what are you staring at, Spicer?"

"I'm waiting," the teen firmly answered.

"For what?" the man just as firmly demanded.

"I threw bean seeds out the window last night," Jack informed, "I'm waiting for them to grow."

An eyebrow arched. "You'd never know if they _did_ grow; have you any idea how long of a way down it is from my mountain to the ground? And besides, it takes much more time than overnight to grow a plant."

"Uh, Chase," the goth scoffed in the typical 'DUH' tone, "it's gonna be a _huge_ stalk, and F.Y.I., they were _magic_ seeds."

"...where did you obtain magic seeds?"

"Chase, shush!" Jack silenced, "You'll make me miss the beanstalk, and then I'll _never_ get the goose that lays golden eggs!"

Chase abruptly remembered what day it was.

"This an April Fool's joke, isn't it?"

"Yup," the albino chirped with a smile, "April Fool! I had you going for awhile, there, didn't I?"

Chase would never admit that he had very nearly bought into the prank.

**_482. Frost-_**

Chase darkened the bedroom with his powers, leaving barely any light and lowering the temperature even further. He curled his hand around one icy wrist, draping himself a little further over his lover as he nuzzled against a cold throat.

The other elemental being reacted as expected, twitching ever so slightly but otherwise acting almost as if he wasn't even there.

Ah, how becoming an elemental changed people: Jack had once been lively and warm, easily excitable, but once the ice had taken him over, he had become stone-faced and cold, monotonous to everything.

Chase didn't mind all that much: when he himself had been taken by darkness, he had been changed, as well: he used to be a _kind_ person.

But those days were over now, and what did it matter how different his lover's personality was? Jack still loved him.

"I love you, Jack..." he purred in a low tone.

Icy, red eyes looked into his, and the youth's expression of nothing didn't change in the least.

Finally, though, he spoke, Chase swearing he felt frost forming on his face from the low temperature of his breath, "I love you, too, Chase."

**_483. Nimble-_**

"All right, listen," Jack snarled to his cackling lover, entirely unamused himself, "my name may be Jack, I may be both nimble and quick, but I will _never_ jump over a candlestick, Chase, _especially_ not," he gestured to the six-foot-tall, _lit_ candle in the center of the room, "_that_ one!"

**_484. Polio-_**

"Magic is superior to science, rabbit," Chase stated. "Accept the fact and move on."

"No," Jack argued, "I _know_ science is better, alright?"

"Hmph," Chase scoffed at his lover, "magic can bypass all laws of nature and cause fabulous and unbelievable events to come to pass; can your science do that?"

The goth, totally unfazed by the challenge, smirked and demanded, "Did magic cure polio?"

**_485. Diabolical-_**

"Okay, Spicer, you say you've concocted a new diabolical plan and you want my input; let's hear it."

Jack grinned, utterly oblivious to the fact that Chase was probably only humoring him out of boredom, and eagerly began, " 'Kay, so I was flipping through an old copy of The Scarlet Letter, and when I got to the part about the fiery, horrible agony in Dimmesdales' chest, I couldn't help but think how cool it would be to be able to make people hurt like that, so I came up with this!"

He raised his right hand to the warlord, proudly showing off some sort of specialized glove he was wearing.

"It's a little like the Serpent's Tail, but it has a mental-uplink with the user so that it can change to different degrees of intangibility based on what it's being used for, like you could make it intangible enough to pass through flesh and bones, but exactly solid enough to be able to mess with organs and cause either serious pain or death. So," the teen smiled sheepishly, realizing he had been ranting a little, "what do you think?"

Chase stared at Jack for a long moment, slightly incredulous. "I...am unwillingly impressed, Spicer. An acceptably useful invention from you: certainly a...pleasant surprise."

The goth brightened considerably and gushed, "Oh, wow, thanks, Chase! Coming from you, that's really important to me! I'm gonna go home and see what else I can think of; thanks for the feedback, Chase!"

The warlord watched Jack go, deftly forcing down his inner-dragon's urge to pounce on the teen and take him before he could escape.

Oh, of course he'd known that Jack Spicer was his soul-mate, but for many reasons, he'd chosen to wait.

The albino was still a bit too young, too hyper, and too unskilled to take that place by his side just yet, but he was taking a step in the right direction: he was getting older, and though he hadn't yet matured in personality, his thoughts _had_, moving on to being able to produce items with his talent for science and technology that were useful for _true_ evil, items able to end lives.

Soon, he'd be ready with the way things were looking, possibly within the year, and Chase Young could finally achieve the completeness he'd hungered for since _his_ gothic albino had quite literally fallen into his arms.

**_486. Stage Fright-_**

"Chase, there's no _way_," Jack quivered to his boyfriend backstage, "I can't do this! I have the _worst_ stage fright, and I'm playing a _lead_ role! I-I-I-mph!"

Chase had stopped the teen's stuttered 'freaking' with a kiss, running a large hand up and down his back soothingly. "You'll be fine," the older man confidently promised.

That night, Jack Spicer gave the most stellar performance of his entire career as an actor.

**_487. Skirt-_**

Jackie held her skirt up so as not to sully it with the mud from an earlier rain as she walked out of the school gym that had housed her prom.

She'd had a _great_ time!

All of the people who had mocked and shunned her were awed at her beauty, and the men _begged_ pitifully for _one_ dance with her, and she had shot every single one down with disdain and danced happily by herself.

Finally, it was the most-awaited part of her night: her date with Chiang Young. She quickly spotted the woman leaning against a black-green Mercedes and ran over, greeting, "Hi, Chi; you look really nice."

Indeed, the woman looked gorgeous with her long hair pinned atop her head, her black and gold dress perfectly outlining her goddess-figure. "Thank you, Jackie," she smiled, "you look lovely as well."

"So, where are we going?" the younger girl asked, her short hair bobbing a bit as she tilted her head in question.

Chi looked very smug as she answered, "Frederik's."

"Wow, really?! That's the best place in _town_!"

"Yes, really," the woman laughed, "and afterwards, I thought we might go back to my place for coffee."

"I don't like coffee," Jackie sheepishly admitted, to which Chiang smirkingly informed, "Neither do I..."

The younger flushed at the innuendo, to which the elder chuckled in amusement before helping her date into the car and taking her own place in the driver's seat.

Chi leaned over and pulled Jackie into heated kiss to which the younger girl immediately responded despite her earlier shyness, the cherry and black lipstick each woman was wearing respectively mixing together so completely that by the time the kiss ended, both females wore the same, dark red color upon their lips.

"Shall we go, my pet?" Chiang purred lustily, a tone of smugness in her voice that should've been illegal.

"We shall," Jackie panted after a moment, wearing a grin that would put even the brightest star to shame.

And the two young ladies then drove off to enjoy their night on the town.

**_488. Redemption-_**

Chase treated him well enough, Jack supposed, and it wasn't _so_ bad being confined to Hell, but...some niggling feeling inside of him screamed that it was wrong, that he could now _never_ achieve redemption in His eyes with all he'd done.

As the demon nuzzled against him, having become much more affectionate now that there was no chance of the human escaping him again, whispering sweet nothings to him in archaic Latin, however, he ignored that feeling and snuggled back against Chase serenely, all thoughts of his priesthood teachings fading almost completely from his mind in contentment.

**_489. Chest-_**

There was a reason no man but Chase could truly make him happy.

It was a specific trait of the warlord to haul the youth closer to him during the afterglow, holding him against his well-muscled chest as they fell asleep together.

There weren't too many guys who did that, and Jack knew that even if he managed to find one, it wouldn't feel _quite_ the same.

Chase really _was_ the only man for him.

**_490. Cork-_**

"Ooh, champagne!" Jack squealed excitedly at his lover's anniversary gift reaching for it only to have the bottle torn away from him.

"Let _me_ pop the cork, Spicer; don't you remember what happened the _last time_?"

The goth paused, flashing back in his head before agreeing, "Yeah, that'd probably be best; those poor cactus farmers may never rebuild their lives, and those Swamis, huh, well, they'll _never_ go swimming in Niagara Falls in the month of May with those angry, purple platypi in there, now."

"Hmph," Chase scoffed, "how that Italian family of acrobats defeated the warring Robot-Ninja/Pirate-Zombie armies is _far_ beyond me." The man poured his lover a glass and handed it to him, taking a savory sip of his own. "Now, drink your champagne, Spicer, I didn't get it for nothing, you know."

--

**A/N:**

**_Beanstalk- _Get it? It's Jack and the Beanstalk, only not. XD  
**

**_Frost-_ Something in my head for a while; other than that, nothing really to say. **

**_Nimble-_ No comment.  
**

**_Polio-_ Chase got served! XD **

**_Diabolical- _No comment.  
**

**_Stage Fright- _No comment.  
**

**_Skirt-_ Continuation of _Dresses_ from Chapter43.  
**

**_Redemption-_Continuation of _Pennance_ from Chapter 47; see? I told you Chase gets nicer. He was just _really_ pissed that his mate was trying to get away from him, and now that he _can't_ get away, he's perfectly fine.  
**

**_Chest- _No comment.  
**

**_Cork- _...yeeaahh...um...Jack apparently has _no_ skill whatsoever in popping corks. And that's an understatement. XD**

**And that be Chapter 49; I'll try to get 50 up quickly, followed by 51, but...meh. Point being, I'll _try_ to get them up, at least. XD Hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for reading! :D**


	50. Chapter 50

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_491. Impact-_**

Chase was sure his young lover had absolutely _no_ idea how sheerly _massive_ his impact on the man's life was.

**_492. Indirectly-_**

A tiny, obscure reference to a man by the name of Chase Young in a textbook indirectly and forever altered the course of a young, goth teenager's life.

**_493. Disgusted-_**

Jack was a creepy little teenager, and he absolutely _disgusted_ Chase.

His pasty white skin, those freakish, red eyes and _clearly_ unnatural red-orange hair, and his ridiculous, excitable behavior: all a revolting mix of traits that came together to form an equally-as-revolting human being!

...or, at least, that's what the warlord tried to tell himself.

**_494. Trust-_**

Jack would always do _anything_ Chase asked him to do; it was that blind trust that was a part of true love.

**_495. Losing-_**

Chase had never feared losing something or someone in a _long_ time, but now, losing his young lover had become his greatest nightmare, and the very thought was _terrifying_.

**_496. Frightens-_**

Many things could frighten Jack, an admitted coward with a pain allergy, but none more so than having Chase taken away from him, by the man's own choice to reject him or otherwise.

**_497. Actually-_**

It was actually surprising how much an immortal martial arts genius now relied on a weak, clumsy technophile for love and attention.

**_498. Supplement-_**

Being with Chase truly supplemented Jack's invention life, inspiring him to create more and better things to attain honest praise from his lover.

**_499. Superiority-_**

Chase loved the superiority he experienced in his relationship with Jack, the ultimate submission and control the teen practically handed to him on a silver platter.

**_500. Receive-_**

Jack loved to be on the receiving end of his relationship with Chase, to have all of that power and passion given to only _him_ by the most important man in his life _every single time_ the warlord made love to him.

--

**A/N:**

**Since it's a special occasion, halfway to my ultimate goal of 100 chapters, I decided to make this chapter themed, and the theme is the progression of relationship between Chase and Jack from both of their perspectives.**

_**Impact **_**and_ Indirectly_ are centered around how they affect each other, _Disgusted _and _Trust_ are about early stages, like before they're a couple, _Losing _and _Frightens _are about how they'd feel about being separated, _Actually _and _Supplement_ are centered around their co-dependency, and finally, _Superiority_ and _Receive_ are basically how they feel about their respective roles of dominance and submission.**

**So...I thusly declare this The Relationship-Fluff Chapter, and simultaneously declare it over.**

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked the chapter! :D**


	51. Chapter 51

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_501. Sideburns-_**

"Chase, stop treating me like a kid!" Jack demanded, informing, "I'm almost nineteen, you know, not _nine_!"

The warlord scoffed. "You _are_ a 'kid', Spicer; when you _act_ nineteen, I will _treat_ you like you're nineteen. Until then, you will be immature as far as I'm concerned."

"......what if I grew sideburns? Then would I be mature?"

Chase froze. "...No."

"Ooh, ooh, what about a mustache? How about that?"

"_No_."

"Then, maybe-"

"No, no facial hair, Spicer! You can't gain maturity from a mustache _or_ sideburns!"

"Oh, duh," Jack exclaimed in realization, "how could I be so stupid? Of _course_ it has to be a goatee! Geez..."

**_502. Saxophone-_**

"So, when your mother forced me into doing the dishes with her, she told me that you play the saxophone, Spicer."

"Oh," Jack remembered, "yeah, I play a li-wait: did you say 'saxophone' or '_sexophone_'?"

"Saxophone," Chase insisted with a frown, to which the goth sighed, "Oh, okay; yeah, I play a little."

The warlord soon noticed a disturbed expression on his lover's face and dully asked, "What is it?"

"I can't stop thinking about sexophones, now..." Jack shuddered.

**_503. Hacky Sack-_**

"Hey, Chase, I picked up a sport; aren't you proud of me?"

Not even looking up from his book, the man informed his lover, "Hacky sack is not a real sport."

"Dammit!" Jack cursed, storming away.

**_504. Tuft-_**

Jack made a pleased noise as a servant washed and brushed his fur thoroughly, small tufts of fur that had been itching him for weeks removed easily, making him want to purr like a feline.

And speaking of felines, Chase was a saint! He'd done _so_ much for the poor terrier: given him a home, food, had him groomed, and even had that awful, iron collar surgically removed and medically treated, and the cat had promised that once the bandages came off, he'd make sure that he would be getting a _super_-nice collar for him.

He may have been a little apprehensive when Chase had made his intentions clear and had mounted him, but he was very gentle when they mated, and he'd been kind enough to resist the instinctive urge to bite at the scruff of his neck (which was still _very_ sore) in dominating him, so Jack didn't really mind.

He knew other dogs would laugh at him for being a cat's bitch (or as Chase called him, 'his queen'), even for all the luxuries he'd received, but the terrier didn't care: he was pretty sure he was starting to fall for the rich feline.

**_505. Goatee-_**

Jack had completely ignored Chase and gone ahead with his goatee plan.

The goth was extremely happy with it, excited about being able to cosplay as Hotstreak with only a clothes change, a blonde streak or two in his hair and a gruffer intonation to his voice.

Chase, however, was...conflicted.

Jack, his mind insisted, was _far_ too young to have facial hair of any kind, but...the rest of him insisted that his lover looked quite dashing now, handsome with a sort of rugged edge that he _definitely_ hadn't had before, and an even weirder part of him had begun to toy with the idea of...maybe, in a year or two, at some point down the line...playing a submissive role to the young man...just once or twice, of course, to see what it'd be like!

But he _couldn't_ let Jack find out yet; he'd never let him live _that_ down.

For now, Chase would just bide his time and see how things played out...

**_506. Beanbag-_**

Chase had known Spicer was attracted to him, yes, but when the monks had left after a successful Showdown at the goth genius' home, leaving himself and the youth there alone in the latter's room, he hadn't expected Jack to be so upfront, turning to him and casually asking, no, _offering_ as he gestured to a piece of furniture behind him, "You ever done it in a beanbag chair?"

**_507. Math-_**

"Seriously?" Jack gaped at his lover, "You got a C in math?"

The teen blushed hotly with a frown. "I didn't get _any_ sleep before the final because I was up all night studying, and I fell asleep when Mr. Jeffries begins the exam; the definition of irony."

"Aw," Jack comforted, "it's okay. If it makes you feel better, I totally failed music, outright F. I'd need a bucket to carry a tune."

Chase smiled at the attempt to cheer him up, and thanked, "While I appreciate your sentiments, somehow I just don't think my father will be as forgiving as you."

"Pfft," the goth scoffed, "and my mom'll be? I've already canceled my plans for the next month, 'cause I am g-r-o-u-n-d-e-d, grounded."

Silence.

"At least you passed spelling, I suppose."

"Mmhm," Jack smirked, "one hundred on math, science, and spelling; I mean, I flunked _actual_ literature, music, art, and Korean, but, you know."

"Nice, Jack," Chase teasingly congratulated, "very nice; now, come; let's go get a coffee or something before we have to sneak out of maximum security prison to see each other."

Jack snickered even though it wasn't really a joke, but more of a reality. "Okay, I just want to scream, 'fuck you' at all the teachers who failed me real quick."

Chase laughed. "And you wonder why your teachers hate you."

**_508. Dress Shirt-_**

Jack was absolutely exhausted.

When his mom had decided to take in a six-year-old orphan boy, he really hadn't been expecting the kid to be such a demanding slave-driver to the only being present in the house: him.

"Spicer," came the annoyed demand, "I suppose you've forgotten that you have to drive me to Sarah's gala."

"No, Chase," Jack sighed tiredly, "I remember."

He finished folding a pair of pants and brushed his hands on the pair he was wearing, approaching the child.

"I'll put your tie on for you," he offered.

"Ugh," Chase scoffed as the teen began helping him, "can't you do _anything_ right? It feels like you're trying to choke me! And you're using too much starch in the laundry, by the way; I can hardly move in this suit."

Jack stewed in exhaustion and frustration as the remarks kept coming, jabbing at his skill at doing things he, quite frankly, didn't even have to be doing, and finally, he snapped.

Right in the middle of a comment about his lousy cooking, a pale hand smacked across the boy's face, the older male snarling, "You rotten little _brat_!"

Chase was stunned. "Y...you struck me..."

Jack gasped, horrified at what he'd done."Oh my god, I'm _so_ sorry, Chase! I...I didn't mean it, I just...I'm sorry!" He grabbed a hold of the boy's smaller body and held it close to his, guilt flooding his heart at the blood staining his white dress shirt; he hadn't broken the boy's nose, but he _had_ caused a nosebleed, something he knew was totally new to Chase.

The youth allowed himself to be held, his intelligent mind racing: Jack had hit him, _hit_ him!

Quiet, submissive Jack!

What the hell could have made him...wait...he had called him a brat...was he a brat?

Thinking back on the past few days, the unthinkable happened: Chase realized his faults.

He had been downright _cruel_ to the poor albino, running him ragged!

He...he _was_ a brat.

"Chase? Are you okay? I-"

"M'sorry." the youth apologized, to which Jack gasped, "Wh-what?"

"...m'sorry..." he repeated, curling up against the larger male's body.

"...it's okay. Now, come on, let's get you cleaned up for mom's gala; I promise I won't hurt you again."

Chase was surprised he'd never noticed how caring Jack was (more focused on the fact that the teen had been doing things imperfectly for him as opposed to that he was doing them at all) and let himself be picked up, his hands fisted in Jack's dark shirt and his face nestled in the crook of his neck as he, for the first time, acted his age.

"Okay, Jack."

**_509. Folder-_**

Jack lounged on the couch, flipping through the stolen police records he'd obtained, the manila envelope they'd come in lying forgotten on the coffee table.

The crime scene photos were pretty gruesome, huge chunks of flesh missing, partially-eaten corpses, faces that expressed utter horror before death.

The goth didn't care: they deserved it.

A low, rumbling noise caught his attention, and he looked down to see Chase staring up at him with his big, reptilian eyes. Smiling, the teen patted the back of the couch invitingly, the beast then crawling up to lay on top of him, snout resting lazily on his chest.

Out of courtesy, Jack allowed Chase to see the pictures, too, half-chuckling to hear a proud growl resonate from the reptile's chest. The animal was intelligent, the goth could give him that much; intelligent enough, at least, to know that it was he who'd done that to them and that he'd done a damn good job, too.

Honestly, Jack liked having Chase around the house. He lived alone, so the company was appreciated, and seeing him every day reminded him that he'd done the right thing, had earned this noble beast's loyalty and trust.

It was a good feeling.

Of course, once or twice, Chase had tried to...get frisky with him, but seemed to understand that 'no' meant 'no' at least, and so Jack didn't mind the advances and thought of them as harmless.

Little did he know that Chase's species was persistent in obtaining their mate and that he wouldn't give up until Jack gave in, but for now, the dragon was content to line his future mate's body with his own, proudly looking over crime-scene photographs of his murdered tormentors and admiring his own handiwork.

**_510. Eyeliner-_**

Chase watched his lover sleep, feeling only the slightest twinges of guilt at the way his eyeliner streaked down his face from now-dried tears.

The rotten bitch _deserved_ his pain for everything he put him through, making him think he was _dead_!

He had been _furious_ at the goth, and had enacted severe punishment for the ruse, including the permanent marking on his hip of the man's initials (so no one else would ever have him), a fractured ankle (so he couldn't try to escape him again until it healed), and a few forced matings (something he wasn't proud to have stooped to, but discipline and dominance _had_ to be enforced).

The albino seemed repentant for his ruse, and didn't seem to mind the pain Chase had caused him as much as he'd thought he would, and in fact, seemed to have accepted it as something he deserved as punishment.

The warlord lay back down next to the youth and pulled him closer, pleased at the way he was cuddled against despite his earlier hostility.

while he was still _very_ angry, he was glad that Jack was alive.

--

**A/N:**

**_Sideburns- _Heh, only Jack. XD  
**

**_Saxophone- _I don't know what a sexophone is, but this situation kinda happened the morning I got the word 'saxophone' from a friend, and after I misheard it as 'sexophone', I couldn't stop thinking about it, either. o.0 **

**_Hacky Sack- _It's _not_ really a sport, is it? It's a game, but games should only be classified as sports if people will pay money to watch it. Honestly, though, I find the whole concept of sporting events a bit silly (a bunch of people get together to watch people who are payed millions of dollars to play a game), but, you know, not a sports buff _at all_, so I guess I'm biased. -.-  
**

**_Tuft- _Continuation of _Neglect_ from Chapter 48; Jack settles in to a new life with Chase. He deems that it is very enjoyable. :) **

**_Goatee- _...I love Hotstreak. XD But that's really beside the point. I don't know, I think a Jack Spicer in his early twenties would look pretty hot with a goatee; I mean, hell, Hotstreak really does have a lot of the same physical characteristics (except, you know, he actually _has_ muscles XD) and he looks good with one. I mean, that's personal opinion, I guess, so I can't exactly speak for everybody else, but I think he'd be pretty sexy, and I think Chase's mind would start wandering down a nearly untouched road as it has here. XD  
**

**_Beanbag- _I imagine doing 'it' in a beanbag chair would be...somewhat awkward, but hey, Jack sure can make conversation, right? XD And honestly, I can almost see it playing out with Chase being like, "Why no, I haven't! I believe I must try that, and since you seem to be the only human being available, we will do it together!" And of course, all of that is in a random, British accent in my head, for some reason. XD  
**

**_Math- _Grr...I hate finals...I have two tomorrow, and then I'll be home free...you know, that is until report cards come in. Then I might be grounded or something for not getting an A in Chemistry, History, and Geometry, because as the world knows, a B means you're stupid. -.- Rawr, damn perfectionist parents...grumble, grumble.  
**

**_Dress Shirt- _This idea has always been sort of appealing to me...not child abuse, but I mean, a child being a total rotten brat, driving his/her parents crazy, and then he/she gets smacked once and goes, "Damn...I'll be good, now." Probably because I'm hoping that if I ever have kids, that's how they'll be. It's unrealistic, but I hate those really obnoxious kids you see in malls and stores and stuff, screaming and crying and yelling at their mothers, it just...I don't know if I could have kid like that; I'd go to jail. If my kid ever started throwing a tantrum in public because I wouldn't buy him/her candy or some crap and started calling me names and hitting me, I'd punch 'em out. I _hate_ that kind of stuff, it's _infuriating._ But, back to the main point, Chase is smart enough to know better: he _will_ be good, now, even though Jack probably won't _ever_ hit him again because of guilt. And now that Chase isn't a bossy, little brat anymore, he'll be able to see the _real_ Jack, and not just, 'that guy who can't do anything right', and if I have my way, they'll eventually get together. :)  
**

**_Folder- _Continuation of _Initiate_ from Chapter 42; just some closure as to what happened to Jack and Chase after the incident.  
**

**_Eyeliner-_ Continuation of _Anguish_ from Chapter 45, because I really just felt like wrapping that one up; it was one of those ones I literally _couldn't_ leave hanging. It isn't really forced, by the way, because despite what Chase thinks, Jack is willing; he feels bad for deceiving Chase like that, and figures whatever pain he gets right now, he pretty much has coming. He's okay with it, because he knows Chase is just..._really _pissed off, and he'll be nicer once he's had a while to calm down. All he really cares about is that he now knows that Chase _does_ love him (as proved by the whole 'depression-after-thinking-he-was-dead' thing) and so that tells him that, yeah, Chase is mad and, as is his nature, he _will_ hurt him for the deception, but he won't hurt him too badly to the point of torture or serious pain; all he thinks of it as is a little rough sex and tough love. So, yeah, there's my revised author's note on that. :)  
**

**And there's Chapter 51, so...yeah, thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it! :D**


	52. Chapter 52

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_511. Heat Retention-_**

The only thing Jack loved more on winter's night than Chase's extremely warm body was the blanket's high capacity for heat retention, both it and his lover keeping him nice and toasty all night long.

**_512. Socks-_**

"Hey, Chase," a squeaky, high-pitched voice greeted, "you look a bit down; what's wrong?"

The warlord refused to answer, boiling in repressed fury.

Another, slightly lower-toned voice also tried to get his attention. "Come oooon, say hello! Don't be shy!"

Finally, after much longer than he'd expected himself to last, Chase snapped. "Spicer, get your _putrid_ socks out of my face!"

"They're not socks," Jack defended, "they're sock _puppets_!"

**_513. Cellular Damage-_**

His mind snapped into full awareness within the space of a second, shock and terror at knowing nothing of what was going on immediately striking fear into his young heart.

Suddenly, the liquid that had kept him alive and healthy was painful, and something in his chest was stifled as he realized he couldn't alleviate a new instinct trying to make his lungs expand.

He could feel himself sinking lower as his encasement was drained, and when it finally stopped, he found himself on a hard surface, a whooshing noise sounding and an inexplicably-freer feeling around him coming into focus.

He was too disoriented to do or think much of anything (even open his eyes), but he could manage to cough instinctively, removing the gooey substance that had sustained him from his mouth and throat and initiating his first breath. He registered that wherever he was, it was cold; goosebumps already prickling on his pale, goop-slick skin as he shivered helplessly.

"Is he alright?"

He heard voices from somewhere near him speaking, but he was too preoccupied to pay attention to what they were saying.

"According to our sensors, he's just fine, sir. No cellular damage, heartbeat regular, and brainwaves strong. If anything, he's just disoriented."

The young male suddenly felt cloth drape over his shoulders, big, strong hands making sure it wrapped sufficiently around the rest of his body. Small, plastic circles (most likely used to keep data on his physical state) were pulled off of his temples and chest before he was abruptly lifted off the ground and into a comfortable, secure pair of arms, to which he jolted and squirmed slightly from startlement.

"Ssh, easy, Jack, easy," a deep, masculine voice assured, "I shan't hurt you."

...Jack? Was that his name? It sounded kind of familiar...

"I'm just going to take you to bed and let you get some rest."

A bed? Oh, that sounded _really_ nice right now. "Mmm..." he sighed contentedly, the noise yielded a rather pleasant action from the man holding him, the slight pressure of lips pressed against his own.

His hazy, red eyes blinked open, taking his first look at the handsome, dark-haired man above him.

The male smiled, the image making his insides feel like mush, before speaking in that wonderfully-soothing voice, "That's right, now just rest; I'll take good care of you."

Jack believed him wholeheartedly, subconsciously tightening the warm fabric of Chase's captain's jacket around him and resting his head on the man's chest as he drifted off to sleep.

**_514. Pot-_**

"Chase, Chase, Chase, I need you to do something for me!"

"Oh," the man sighed, "what is it _now_?"

The goth looked at him quite seriously and demanded, "Start smoking pot."

"...Pardon?"

"You heard me," Jack frowned, holding out a joint in his hand, "smoke it."

"I will do no such thing," the warlord scoffed, batting the object out of the teen's hand, "the acting agent in marijuana is THC, which has a bit of a tendency to _kill brain cells_. There's a reason it's called 'dope', Spicer, and I would never debase myself by doing such a thing; I'm honestly a bit disturbed to think that _you_ would."

"Me?" the albino blinked, "Oh, no, I don't smoke it; but you should!"

"And _why_ is that?"

"...do you have _any_ idea how long it's been since I've gotten any comments on my AMVs? Even my regulars have, like, dropped off the planet! I'm so _lonely_, Chase, I...I _need_ comments. Just...get high for me so I can post it on Youtube and have a viral video, 'kay?"

Chase was pretty pissed: Jack intended to exploit him, his drug-induced _stupidity_, no less, for comments from idiots who had nothing better to do than critique the latest trashy clips online before going off to download porn somewhere.

"Spicer, I am both shocked and appalled that you would-" He cut himself off as an idea that would make them both happy came to mind, and he snatched away his lover's camera (which was hidden behind his back) and pulled him wordlessly to the bedroom.

Approximately two days later, one to recuperate and one to debate on whether or not he was _really_ that desperate, Jack posted a video on his account entitled, "Smex with My Boyfriend" and under his comments, he had awkwardly typed, "So...erm...this is me...smexing with my boyfriend. Ah, if you're wondering why he, um, turns into a giant lizard at about 10:36...it's CGI."

Unfortunately, though the clip got over 400 million views, not a single comment was posted because every last viewer died from massive nosebleed blood-loss.

**_515. Caesar-_**

The emperor smiled, seeing his son diligently poring over famous scrolls and texts: at this rate, the boy would grow up to be the next Caesar!

Guan would, therefore, be furious to know that tucked inside the scrolls were love letters, addressed, "My Dearest Jack" and signed with the name of an undefeated gladiator whose life he always favored at the finish of his battles.

**_516. Superdy Duper-_**

"Hmph, _Barney_," Chase seethed, "a mockery of lizard-kind everywhere!"

Jack wrapped his arms around his lover's shoulders. "Aw, don't get so riled up about this; I think you're a better giant reptile than he'll _ever_ be."

The warlord snorted at the sentiment, but nonetheless thanked, "I appreciate that y-"

"In fact, I think you're superdy duper!"

Chase growled and deftly shoved his cackling lover off of the bed to hit the floor with a dull thump, who, on his way down, knocked a lamp to the ground.

Jack froze and stared at the broken object for a moment, soon laughing hysterically once more as a thought came to him.

Chase was only just barely happier that the goth was laughing too hard to speak as opposed to singing the "Clean Up" song.

**_517. Noogie-_**

Xi squealed as he was caught under Crane's wing, whatever passed as the bird's knuckles rubbing violently and traumatizingly over his skull.

"Hey, there, bunny-boy, whatcha' doing'?"

"Agh," he grunted trying to squirm away, "nothing...! Let me go!"

It was no use, though; Crane was a trained warrior, like Mantis, and Viper, and Tigress, and Monkey, and...Tai...

He was just a weak, little hare who didn't even have the luxury of camouflage because his father was from the arctic and had met his mother here; white fur did _not_ disguise well in China.

"Come on," the bird insisted, "you must be doing _something_."

Xi struggled even harder, attempting to at least kick the troublesome Crane with his big feet, but unfortunately, that did no good either due to his awkward position, and, with no other options, he tried, "I was-"

"He was coming to see _me_," came the distinctively possessive growl, and Crane immediately dropped the hare who then scampered over to his savior, allowing himself to be picked up and held to a broad, grey chest, snuggling safely into the silky-soft fur there.

"T-tai-Lung," Crane stuttered, "I...I didn't mean to-"

"Save it, bird," the leopard snarled, "if I ever see your wings on him again, much less any other part of your body, I promise I will take the liberty of _removing_ said body part, understand?"

Crane nodded shakily before fluttering off somewhere, most likely to boost his ego by wooing his girlfriend, Viper, and Xi softly murmured, "Thanks, Tai..."

"Did he hurt you, lover?"

"Uh-uh..."

Noting the slight undertone of depression in the hare's voice, the elder warrior demanded, "What's wrong, Xi?"

"I...I'm useless," the small creature whimpered, "I can't even keep Crane from giving me a noogie...How'm I supposed to become a master like you and Tigress and everybody else?"

Having discovered the source of Xi's distress, Tai merely laughed. "_That's_ what you're upset about?" He sat the rabbit down and looked at him quite seriously. "You _are_ a master, mate."

"Psh," Xi scoffed sullenly, determined to wallow in depression, "prove it."

The snow leopard deftly grabbed one long, white ear in his paw, and the hare tensed before administering six, lightning-quick strikes to his lover's chest, locking up his muscles and temporarily paralyzing him.

Xi immediately gasped in horror at what he'd just done, quickly applying force to the proper points to undo the paralysis and apologizing, "Ohmigosh, Tai, I'm sorry! You _know_ I have a thing about my ears!"

"Exactly," the leopard assured, cracking his neck, "you are a master at pressure points and nerve attacks; you've studied them for ten years of your life, and you're only fifteen now. No other student here has such precision or mastery as you, not even _I_. Tell me, how many have died by your hand, because of your skills?"

"...eighteen? I think...Maybe more?"

"Well, there you are," Tai grinned, petting his lover's head, "so, you have no martial arts to rely on in a fight; what does that matter if you can end it quicker and expend less energy by paralyzing your foe and snapping his neck, as I've _seen_ you do many times before?"

Xi brightened, nuzzling against his lover affectionately. "Thanks, Tai," he cooed, "  
"you always know how to make me feel better!"

The snow leopard laughed, teasing, "Trust me, mate, with your temperament, it's not easy."

**_518. Chuckles-_**

Jack shot up in bed with a frightened yelp, breathing heavily.

"What's wrong, Spicer?" Chase moaned, absolutely exhausted (_long_ day: a five-way Showdown, himself versus all four monks at once). "Have you any idea what time it is?"

"Sorry," the goth muttered, laying back down next to his lover, "I just had a really weird dream: we were both good guys, and you were blonde and scrawny, and I was, like, totally ripped and not albino, and we were fighting a pig in a cape who kept saying his name was The Dark Lord Chuckles The Silly Piggy."

"...Spicer?"

"Yeah?"

"Never tell me about your ridiculous dreams again."

"Right," Jack sighed, still clearly recalling the feel of a slender body pressed up against his chest as he shielded his lover from an amulet's red energy blast, "that'd probably be a good idea."

**_519. Involuntary Spasm-_**

"Ooh, I swear to god, Chase, those monks think they're all that and a bag of crack! They just make me _so_ mad that I-I-I-I-" Jack abruptly cut off as he fell to the floor with a loud whump, taking a moment to collect himself before vehemently finishing, "They make me so mad, it sets off that involuntary spasm in my leg and I friggin' fall over!"

Chase was silent for a moment, looking his lover over blankly as he tried to pick himself up off the ground unsuccessfully, the goth's leg still bent at a weird, uncomfortable-looking angle.

"Your body has many problems, doesn't it?" he mused.

"Yeah," the albino admitted with a grunt as he slipped back to the marble floor for about the third time, "but if you don't help me up _soon_, I get the feeling that three parts of it in particular are gonna stop working for you for, oh, let's say two months."

And it was that kind of statement that made the warlord feel suddenly-helpful and haul his lover back to his feet, his skilled fingers soothing locked-up calf muscles into relaxing and returning control of the limb to the youth.

There were some things even the mighty Chase Young was unwilling to risk, and Jack Spicer's body was among the few.

**_520. Dancing Zombie Army-_**

"Ohmigod, _Chase_."

"...yes?" The warlord had a feeling that this was going to be one of Jack's bad ideas, mostly influenced by the fact that, quite frankly, good ideas didn't _happen_ in graveyards.

"I just realized something: how much ass would I be able to kick if I had a zombie army at my disposal?"

Oh, lord, now he was onto messing with death!

"Spicer," he advised, "it's never a good idea to resurrect the dead; there are usually very grave consequences to it, especially if it's only done for personal gain."

"But _you_ did it in Chapter 26."

"What?"

"Nothing. But, I mean, really, though, it'd be _so_ cool to have an army of the undead, and like, they'd obey my every command-..."

Oh no, and here comes the power-trip...

"Dude, I could make 'em dance!" Jack crowed. "Then it'd be a _dancing_ zombie army! How bitchin' would _that_ be?!"

"It doesn't sound like-"

"The correct answer is '_very_ bitchin', Chase: 'very bitchin'. Now, if you'll excuse me," the goth informed, "I'm off to find a copy of the Necronomicon. When you next see me, I will be the leader of a massive and powerful dancing zombie army."

The two stared at each other for a long, awkward moment.

"I'll be home in time for dinner."

And the younger took off into the sky with his heli-pack, leaving Chase to stare at the nearest grave and mutter, "You poor, dead, soul."

He then teleported home with the intention of moving all precious objects somewhere where a decomposing creature doing the jitterbug wouldn't be able to ruin them.

--

**A/N:**

**_Heat Retention- _I figure Chase technically _should_ be cold-blooded, but...he's still somewhat human, right? :D  
**

**_Socks- _...Okay, I admit it: I _do_ make Jack do some ridiculous stuff he probably wouldn't do in the actual show, but seriously. There are some things he doesn't do in the show that he really _should_ be doing, namely Chase, but also sock puppets. Sock puppets in an episode of Xiaolin Showdown would _make my day_, no kidding. **

**_Cellular Damage- _Continuation of _Response_ from Chapter 45; Jack wakes up, and Chase promises to take care of him. :)  
**

**_Pot- _I would totally fave that video. X3 **

**_Caesar- _Continuation of _Gladiator_ from Chapter 47; I expounded on their secret relationship a little bit more.  
**

**_Superdy Duper- _...No comment.  
**

**_Noogie- _As you can probably tell, I saw Kung-Fu Panda a while back, and...this resulted. Basically, I've decided that instead of a panda becoming the new warrior, it's a hare, and that hare is played by Danny Cooksey, and I have totally forgone the fact of the dragon warrior. XD That means that Tai-Lung never left the Jade Palace, and I've decided that instead of being played by Ian McShane, it's Jason Marsden now, because if you've seen the movie, you know there's more awesome on that snow leopard than all the awesome in Awesome-Town; just watch that escape he pulled from that prison. It's like: WHOA. o.o But anyways, I've also put the cast of Xiaolin Showdown into the movie: Rai as Crane, Kimiko as Viper, Omi as Mantis, Clay as Monkey, and Wuya as Tigress. So...yeah. :D  
**

**_Chuckles- _I had to do a dream-crossover with Dave the Barbarian; why? Because that'd be totally cool, and we all know it. XD  
**

**_Involuntary Spasm- _...I'm hoping I don't have to explain which three parts are being discussed. '.'  
**

**_Dancing Zombie Army- _This is Matt's idea; he's always going on about getting a dancing zombie army, and I figured, "Why not Jack?" XD And by the way, notice the blatant shattering of the fourth wall again; I can't help myself.**

**And so that's Chapter 52! Thanks for reading! :D**


	53. Chapter 53

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_521. Malaria-_**

"Ooh, Chase, it's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose so..." the virus frowned, trying to move subtly away from Wuya's prying hands, unfortunately unsuccessfully.

"You know, I've been hearing some things lately about us dormant diseases; there's hope for us yet. They say if two organisms stay..._close_ enough to each other," at this point, the female put her leg around the back of his, her not-unblessed front pressed up against his chest, "and they do it often enough, they'll exchange attributes; think, Chase: we'd _both_ get wanted. You could have your big comeback, and I could have a greater following than just in Africa. What do you say?"

The bubonic plague virus shoved the malaria disease away from him, huffing, "I say you're much too late with both that information and your offer."

"What?!" Wuya gasped, "What are you saying?!"

Chase smirked darkly as he explained, "I've been incubating with a nonfatal virus for a few months, now, and I've already been altered for the better; I was planning on making my 'big comeback' within the week."

"A nonfatal virus?!" shrieked the female virus, "What nonfatal could _possibly_ give you any useful traits?!"

"I believe the two of you are already acquainted," the male grinned sharply, "he's a young common cold virus who goes by the name of Jack."

"Him?!" The malaria infectant was clearly outraged. "What'd _he_ give you? Sniffles? A mild headache?"

"You're thinking _very_ small, Wuya; I was given something _much_ more valuable. Jack has been generous, and shared his immunity to a cure."

The female virus' eyes shot wide open. "No..."

"Oh, but yes, my dear malaria, he has." Chase's smile was sinister as he continued, "Even a vaccine can't stop me, now."

Wuya's metaphorical heartbeat was through the roof as she desperately tried to make the situation work for her. "I...I'll tell him you only incubated with him for power! He trusts me, he'll believe anything I tell him! And then when he's crushed and heartbroken, _I'll_ have him for myself!"

The black plague only laughed at the notion. "I'm afraid that won't work; he knows very well that I was unaware of the transfer at the time: _he_ was the one who informed me of it after it was apparent I'd changed, and if you even _tried_ to use him that way, you'd have a lot more to worry about than my wrath. Jack wasn't without his own benefits to our relationship, either."

Sickly-colored face flushed even yellower in fury, Wuya snarled, "Fine, then, you has-been! I don't need you _or_ your useless bitch! I'm sure Hannibal will take me!"

As the female stormed off on her quest for the leprosy bacteria, Chase's attention was drawn just behind him, white arms encircling his shoulders and a head of messy, red hair nestling in the crook of his neck.

"Who was it, baby?" came the sleepy murmur, to which the virus turned around and answered, "No one important, Jack." He gave the younger a peck on the lips before picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder, heading back into the abandoned house they'd found, specifically the bedroom. "A bit of actual rest might be a good idea, considering all the work we'll have to do soon."

Jack was compliant and allowed himself to be relocated by his lover. "Aw, _finally_ I get a chance to cause a casualty! You think I'll be any good at it? I mean, I've never _been_ fatal before..."

"Don't worry, lover," Chase assured the no-longer-so-common cold virus with a smile he couldn't see, "I get the feeling that you and I will be even more productive than my early work."

**_522. Sabotage-_**

"So, Chase, it seems we meet again."

"Mr. Spicer?" the dagger-for-hire gaped. It had been less than a _week_ since the aborted assassination attempt, and here he was again? "Do you enjoy getting on powerful peoples' hit lists?"

Jack smiled cheekily at him, tracing a finger along the keyboard of the college's main computer, the one that tied all of the others together. "I'm not as much the 'innocent man' you thought I was, Chase; you know I work at this college as a professor, right?"

The man nodded.

"Well, the dean here is _really_ corrupt, major embezzler, and the liberal arts professor, Gigi, caught him red-handed, and had all the proof on his hard drive at the school. Well, obviously, once he found out that Gigi was going to take the information to the authorities, he was considerably disconcerted. Fortunately for him, there's a science and technology professor who works for him that's significantly more loyal to the hand that signs the paycheck: yours truly. So, he tells me that if I want to keep this much-needed job, I sabotage Gigi's plan by making all the evidence go away, which I've already done. Now, I don't know this for sure seeing as I'm not magic, but I have a feeling as to why _you're_ here now: of course, the dean knows the kind of person I am, and he probably predicted that I backed up the incriminating data and intend to use it as leverage to maybe line my pockets with a little extra green should I ever need/want it, and so he hired you to get rid of me, telling you some lie to make it seem like I'm the bad guy so that you'd kill me, thus leaving no trace of his misdeeds. Sound plausible?"

The assassin considered this before questioning, "How can you be sure that your dean sent me?"

"Your employer's name is Hannibal Bean isn't it?" Jack challenged, to which Chase admitted, "Apparently, your theory must have at least _some_ merit; Hannibal _is_ the one who hired me."

"Hm," the young professor sighed, casually looking over the flash drive he held in his hand, "so what now?"

Chase thought long and hard on the issue before pulling Jack in for a heated kiss, slicing into his arm deeply with his dagger as he did so.

"Aah," the young man hissed as the limb was held away from him and squeezed, being purposefully bled onto the floor, "what're you doing?"

"I'm making it look like I did my job," the elder smoothly answered, "Hannibal is an amateur at murder; he won't know the difference between a fatal and non-fatal amount of lost blood."

"But," Jack protested, "then he'll just have me killed by someone else when I show up for work Monday morning!"

"No, he won't," Chase assured, ripping off a piece of the professor's shirt and tightly wrapping the cut on his arm, "because I'm taking you to live with me from now on."

"What?" Jack gasped, "But-but-but...what about my job? Wuya? I-"

"They're unimportant," the assassin decided, "I've made my decision."

And because, well, he'd been getting _really_ bored with his life anyways, not to mention sick of it, Jack Spicer agreed, " 'Kay, then; lead the way, Chase."

**_523. Manbirdsunrise Monkey-_**

"Chase, check it out: I, using my sheer awesome pwnag3 skillz, have created an entirely new species of monkey!"

Rather than ruin his lover's moment by pointing out that the primate being displayed looked like an average capuchin, the only difference being the bright red-orange-yellow colors of it's fur, Chase praised, "Congratulations, Spicer; I understand that this must be a rather large accomplishment for you. Have you decided on a name for the species?"

"Yes," Jack dramatically declared, "it shall be called...the Manbirdsunrise monkey!"

"...I understand 'sunrise', but why...?"

"Why what?" the goth asked innocently, to which Chase sighed and answered, "Oh, nothing. I assume you want me to take you out for ice cream to celebrate your accomplishment?"

"Ooh, ice cream?!" the youth squealed excitedly, "I am _so_ there!"

**_524. Warlock-_**

"Kitten."

Jack's ears immediately perked, and he leapt from his comfy place (the cushioned footstool next to the roaring fireplace) to find his master. He quickly did so in the warlock's laboratory, and he sat at the man's feet, head tilted in question.

Chase said nothing, looking down at the feline silently until he took a small saucer from his table and lay it in front of him.

Jack backed up a bit in fear of the substance in the saucer, to which the man challenged, "Well, kitten? Aren't you hungry?"

He certainly was, but everything about this seemed..._off_.

Chase _never_ fed him in his lab, where all kinds of dangerous potions were, and besides that, he'd never been so firm with him before, so demanding; it was like he _knew_ something.

Cautiously, he reached out a paw and nudged the saucer, jumping back as it was moved slightly and clattered back against the floor, the so-called 'milk' sloshing around a bit but not spilling.

His master laughed and coaxed, "Go on, it's not poisoned; it's only milk."

Jack padded back to his dinner and looked at it; well, it _did_ seem to be ordinary milk, and Chase had no reason to want him dead or harmed. Hell, he didn't even know he wasn't really a cat (and besides, he hadn't clawed at the curtains in almost a month, now)!

He was being silly: he had no reason to distrust his master; it was only milk.

The small feline began lapping contentedly at the white liquid, when all of a sudden, he choked, staggering backwards with a frightened, helpless mewl as his vision swam before he finally collapsed to the floor in a heap of fur.

Chase smirked devilishly as his suspicions were confirmed, amending to no one, "Milk laced with an all-purpose hex-nullifier."

Watching as the feline body he was used to metamorphosized into that of a nude, young male, human, the man 'hm'-ed before lifting the limp body into his arms and carrying him to his bedroom.

He would ask questions about who he was, what had happened, and who had done it to him later; for now, his top priority was to let the youth rest for as long as he needed, followed by enjoying this lovelier version of his pet to the fullest.

**_525. Dwarf-_**

One of the weirdest days of his life, Jack supposed, was probably the day the Shen Gong Wu, the Grimm Tome, had been activated.

The item had been made to transform anyone in a five-mile radius into their closest fairy-tale parallel. It had been creepy to see Clay as a knight, Kimiko as a fairy-archer, Raimundo as a prince, Omi as a dwarf, and Dojo as a royal advisor, and _especially_ disturbing to see Wuya as a banshee and Chase as a medieval European-style dragon, himself changed into a night elf, but the situation wasn't without it's positives.

Clay's balance was completely thrown off by the armor he wore, Kimiko was _awful_ with a bow and arrow, Raimundo could barely move in the many layers of fine robes much less fight, Omi kept tripping over a newly-grown beard, and Dojo was...just as useless as ever.

Wuya, however, had a scream that could curdle milk, Chase could easily bat his enemies away with a single flick of his massive paws or tail, and Jack now actually _had_ the muscles and force to back up his talk.

Besides, despite the obvious size difference, after the Showdown was easily won, Chase's tongue and Jack's considerably-larger hands made for some interesting escapades, you know, at least until the Wu wore off and they went back to normal.

**_526. Darkness-_**

Jack choked slightly on his own blood, darkness fogging at the edges of his vision as he lay practically-limp, bent over the porcelain toilet seat.

This, he thought, gagging a bit and spitting a little excess blood out of his mouth, was awful.

He was getting too old for this, he really was.

"Spicer?"

At the somewhat-stunned inquiry, the goth blearily looked over towards his bathroom door, softly greeting, "Oh, hey, Chase..." before losing his equilibrium and falling over onto his back.

Before he could really register the man's movement, Jack found himself moved into a more upright position, sitting with a firm chest keeping his back straight, which was a good thing, indeed.

"Thanks," he said, "it'd suck pretty bad if I ended up choking on blood...although, now that I think about it, that'd be, like, the coolest way to die ever."

Deftly ignoring the nonsensical rambling, Chase demanded, "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Psh," the albino scoffed, head lolling forward slightly with the utter lack of resistance in his muscles, "nobody did anything; I have a family history of this."

"A family history of vomiting _blood_?" the warlord pressed.

Though dizzy and disoriented from the blood-loss that came with the puking, Jack was kept barely-conscious by the conversation with his hero as he corrected, "Hematemesis; it's a common symptom of gastric ulcers."

"An ulcer?" Chase gaped, "You're _fifteen_! What does a fifteen-year-old have to stress over to the point of getting an ulcer?"

The youth chuckled mirthlessly. "A fifteen-year-old with a crazy hag on his back about getting a bunch of magical trinkets from highly-skilled teenage warriors with the power of the elements at their disposal, an idol who hates his guts, pretty much no parents, a grade point average in the shitter because of non-attendance for going on four years, now, in addition to the added pressure of a 187 intelligence quotient. Sure, I'm a stress-free guy, alright."

"..."

Chase had never imagined just how much of a toll the Showdowns, the goth's constant failures, and all of the other mystical mayhem that occurred had on Jack, and if he had, it _certainly_ wasn't anything like what he was seeing now.

"How long have you...had this, Spicer?" he inquired.

"Um..." The goth's eyes closed tightly, his mouth moving silently as he tried to work out the amount of time it'd been since the symptoms started showing up before deciding, "Three years, I think...yeah, three years."

A twelve-year-old with an ulcer; that...that was truly a disturbing thought.

Chase abruptly picked the teen up (bridal style, of course, so as not to put any unneeded pressure on the surely-painful abdominal area by carrying him over his shoulder) to which Jack twitched and murmured, "What're you doing?"

The man cryptically answered, "Removing one of your stressors," before teleporting to his home just as the goth finally fainted in his arms from his intense drop in blood pressure.

**_527. Rainbow-_**

"We're pretty greedy."

"Hm?" Chase dully questioned, looking over at his lover, to which Jack explained, "We stole the rainbow to the extent that no one else can use it without someone thinking they're gay. It's not really fair that one lifestyle can just _take_ a rainbow. That's pretty frickin' greedy."

Chase merely sighed and went back to his work, ignoring anything else the goth might decide worth mentioning about the gay flag.

**_528. Frog-_**

"I _hate_ you, you rotten menace!" Chi snarled at the frog who she felt had ruined her life.

The small, white frog looked up at her innocently with his shiny, red eyes. "Princess, when I retrieved your necklace for you, you made me a promise: all I asked was to eat from your plate, sleep on your pillow, and be your friend, and you agreed."

"I don't care," the young woman growled, "I _hate_ you!" Her slender hand smacked into the amphibian, sending him backwards onto her bed with a sickening crack, and upon realizing what she'd done, Chi gasped in horror and went to the frog's side, scooping his limp body into her palms. "What was I thinking? The poor thing only wanted to be my friend, and I...I..."

Tears streamed down the princess's cheeks in regret as the selfish side of her shattered into a million pieces and she sincerely apologized to no one, "I'm sorry..." before pressing her lips to smooth, white flesh, gifting the frog with a kiss.

An explosion of light surrounded her, and the last thing she remembered was falling back onto the soft cushions of her bed in a faint.

Sun shining through the drapes awoke the princess some hours later, and with a soft moan, Chi buried her face into the solid warmth in front of her in an attempt to ignore the morning and sleep longer. She could only groan helplessly as the warmth moved away, leaving her already-chilling form to curl up in an attempt to keep warm.

Soon, though, both problems were solved, the light disappearing and the pleasant heat coming back to her, a well-appreciated pair of arms pulling her closer and holding her tightly.

Wait...arms?

The young woman's eyes shot open, and she yelped, startled to see someone in bed with her, a _man_. He was...well, _beautiful_.

His complexion was smooth and unblemished, colored the palest of whites, his hair a fiery shade of red that reminded her of a sunset, and as she looked up at his particularly-handsome face, she very nearly swooned at the gorgeous eyes, the color of freshly-spilt blood-...could it be...but that was _impossible_!

"F-frog?" Chi hesitantly tried, to which the man gave her a charming smile and corrected, "Not anymore."

The princess gaped openly at the confirmation of her tentative theory, and she helplessly inquired, "_H-how_?"

"My lovely princess," he explained, "I have long been under the curse of a witch whom I refused to marry. It was your kiss that returned me to this form, and your sorry tears that gave me back my life. Thank you, Chi."

"You're welcome..." the woman blushed, having never been treated so sweetly by a man before. "What should I call you, now? 'Frog' isn't as appropriate anymore..."

"Oh, of course," the former-amphibian laughed sheepishly, "how rude of me; my name is Jack Spicer; I am (or, at least, was) a prince of a land not too far from this one."

A prince? Well, he was certainly attractive and charming enough to be one...

There was a brief silence, the two simply looking at each other with something akin to adoration before the young man almost cautiously asked, "May I...may I kiss you, princess?"

The girl smiled, uncharacteristically happy as she answered, "Would you?"

Their lips met, molding perfectly to each other as a soft fire of passion began to burn between the two of them, and for the first time since it'd happened, the once-spoiled rotten princess was glad she had lost her necklace in that old well; if she hadn't, she never would have found the prince of her dreams under the guise of a slimy, albino frog, and that just wouldn't do.

**_529. Moist-_**

"Guh," Jack shuddered, pleading, "_don't_ use that word again, Chase, I _beg_ you."

"What word?" the man queried, eyebrow raised, " 'Moist'?"

The goth gagged slightly, his stomach doing a somersault as he confirmed, "Yes, _that_ word; it's _so_ gross."

"It's only a word, Spicer," the warlord informed, to which Jack challenged, "Yeah, well, it's one of the 'Revolting Two'."

"...'Revolting Two'?"

"Uh-huh," the albino assured, "it's the two words that set off the respective genders. Girls usually hate the word 'moist' and guys usually hate the word 'crusty'. Personally, they both creep me right the fuck out."

Chase was quiet for a long moment before a wicked look passed across his handsome features.

In retrospect, thought Jack, that wasn't a good bit of info to let slip to the prince of darkness, even if he _was_ your lover.

"So, Jack, your birthday is in a few weeks; what kind of cake would you like? Fudge or coconut? In my opinion, coconut is a bit too _crusty_ and fudge is much more _moist_ and succulent."

"Blegh," the goth doubled over, holding back bile, "ergh, so disgusting! Please, Chase, don't!"

"Oh, what's wrong, lover? Perhaps you have a fever; your forehead _is_ looking a bit _moist_."

"La-la-la-la-la-la!" Jack exclaimed loudly, "I can't hear you!"

"How pitiful," the man sighed, "I expected better from you than a petty excuse like that; it's so old, it's _crusty_."

Jack huddled up in a fetal position in the corner, whimpering and sobbing quietly ("Make it stop, _please_ make it stop") as Chase cackled at him in amusement.

**_530. Database-_**

Luckily for Chase, he had come back from the intruder's invasion unscathed (as usual), leaving his name in the database, thankfully, as Chase Young.

Now, though, he gladly took the opportunity to lay against his pasty, scrawny lover (who, in his eyes, was merely pale and slender) as the youth gushed over his safety.

"Chase, you always worry me when you go on those...dumb raid-thingies they make you do! You're smart enough; why don't you try to get transferred to a hacker position like mine? It'd be _so_ much safer!"

The man smiled apologetically, smoothing back a few ruffled, white strands of hair as he informed, "I apologize, Jack, I just can't do that."

"Why not?" the youth pleaded, to which Chase firmly answered, "Well, first of all, it would go against my entire being to sit in front of a computer screen all day; I'm a warrior at heart, Spicer, and a soldier by blood. The art of combat is what I live for. Second of all, I could never settle for the conditions given to the hackers: cramped living conditions, minimal food, and confinement to the indoors; I've no idea how _you_ can stand it."

Jack smiled cheekily. "It's not so bad if you have a general's bed to sleep in, food to share, and attention to keep you from remembering that you're not allowed to see the sun."

Chase laughed before demanding, half-playful, half-making-a-point, "Well, then, I'd best _stay_ a general so that our arrangements remain bearable for both of us, right?"

Reluctantly, Jack sighed, "Yeah, I guess so..."

While he wasn't entirely happy about his lover's job, he knew he had nothing to worry about: Chase was capable of taking care of himself, and things really _were_ for the best as they were now.

Besides, as the hacker saying went, "01000011011011110110110101100101 . 111011101101000011000010111010001100101011101100110010101110010 . 011011010110000101111001."

--

**A/N:**

**_Malaria- _Continuation of _Germs_ from Chapter 7 (WHOA, that's a long way back) because I missed it, and was sad there wasn't more to it...also, I had been watching Osmosis Jones again, and that's what inspired _Germs_ in the first place, so...yeah. XD P.S.-Thrax is cool. :insert heart here:  
**

**_Sabotage- _Continuation of _Espionage _from Chapter 42 because I felt like continuing it with a little more plot instead of leaving things as they were. :) **

**_Manbirdsunrise Monkey- _Okay, I have an excuse for this, I swear: so after I'd seen that Indiana Jones themed commercial for MacDonalds about a million times, the one where they're looking at drawings on a cave wall or something and go, "I wonder what it means?" And the native guy comes up and says, "It means 'man', 'bird', 'sunrise', 'monkey'. My daughter drew them." And after hearing all of those words said so closely together ('cause it sounded like one word, even if you were _really_ listening), I went, "Whoa...best species of monkey _ever._" And I promptly wrote it down as one of my words. XD  
**

**_Warlock- _Continuation of _Wizard_ in Chapter 38; I know Jack is only a human in a cat's body, but he's been that way for a long time, and after awhile, I figure he'd start thinking a little bit like a cat, hence the use of 'master' and terms like, 'comfy place'. **

**_Dwarf- _Yes, the night elf is from World of Warcraft, and yes, I'm implying that they did it. Other than that, I'm sort of comment-less about what to say; the fairy-tale parallels were chosen by similarity of personality and/or traits, so why everybody is what they are should make sense. If it doesn't, feel free to ask. :D  
**

**_Darkness- _Kind of inspired by ScathingSarcasm's comment last chapter, but I decided to take on a different health issue: a gastric ulcer. Supposedly (since I've never had one, thankfully) they're _very_ painful, specifically when eating is concerned, and have a lot of other symptoms that include hematemesis, the vomiting of blood. Luckily for Jack, he hasn't run into any of the serious complications, which usually cause a _lot _of pain and then normally result in surgery. Also, grade point average, as I'm sure you know, is abbreviated as GPA, and intelligence quotient is, as some of you may _not _know, IQ. I'm just making Jack use big words.  
**

**_Rainbow- _Sort of based off a Demetri Martin joke, but I didn't go into as much detail as he did. -.-  
**

**_Frog- _I had to do it sooner or later, and when I got the word, 'frog', I did it: The Frog Prince. And I decided to do a het-version to at least make Chase hormonal enough to feel bad about killing a frog, because if it was the real Chase, he'd be like, "Yeah, it's dead. So what? -.-" And that doesn't make for a very moving story, and, quite frankly, it totally kills the plot. XD  
**

**_Moist- _I don't know if it's true for _all_ girls and _all_ guys, but I know 'moist' creeps me out, and Matt claims that 'crusty' creeps all boys out (specifically him), so I decided, since I had one creepy word, I might as well use the other creepy word to freak poor Jack out; knowing Chase, of course, he is taking full advantage of this, because...well, it's funny. XD  
**

**_Database- _Continuation of _Hackers _from Chapters 37 and _Alert_ from Chapter 41; a little more back-story for both previous words, and all that binary translates to, "Come whatever may."**

**So, as a side-note, unlike normal people, summer seems to have _slowed _my rate of updating. It's not even like I go anywhere or do anything, either, I pretty much just sit around and do nothing, so really, I _should_ be doing productive things. That doesn't seem to be happening, so I apologize for that. However, it may just be that I'm still exhausted from school and just need to catch up on my sleeping for awhile, and then I can be, like, ready to finish some chapters. Or maybe not. We'll just have to see how that plays out. -.- Although, despite the longer time I took in getting this chapter finished and posted, it's, I think, the longest chapter of this I've written so far, so...maybe that makes up for it. o.o  
**

**ANYWHO, thanks for reading Chapter 53, and I hope you liked it! :D**


	54. Chapter 54

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_531. Encounter-_**

Chase Young had had very few encounters with intellect enough to prompt telekinesis, but this was, by far, his most...interesting.

"There you go, perfect," he praised, "very nice."

Jack's eyes lit up, and the book floating in mid-air faltered slightly on it's way towards the youth, to which a large, gloved hand gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"Focus, Spicer, focus; don't lose control."

"Ah, right, sorry!" the goth apologized, tightening his invisible hold on the encyclopedia and bringing it closer to him, finally getting it near enough to physically grab it from the air.

"Don't be sorry, you're doing quite well."

"Really?" Jack smiled with a look that made it seem like the Fourth of July (and thankfully, there were no _actual_ fireworks from an exploding light bulb, this time), "You think so?"

"Of course," Chase assured, "this is a skill that's notoriously difficult to master; the mental prowess alone required to come _close_ to it is staggering, and to see someone like you, excitable, hyper, and unfocused, make such progress in only two months is...almost unbelievable. I have to say, I'm impressed, Spicer."

"Wow," the goth smiled, "thanks, Chase! With _you_ teaching me how to focus my powers, I'm sure I'll learn in no time!"

Chase decided against giving Jack an idea of just how fast he was progressing by mentioning that the last telekinetic individual he'd known was aged 86 years before he'd managed to successfully levitate an object the size of an encyclopedia, not wanting to stroke the teen's already-massive ego as he instead encouraged, "All it takes is determination, and I've never met a more persistent person in my entire life."

**_532. Absorb-_**

"You let them do it."

Jack tensed at the statement, having expected it, but still unprepared for it. "I didn't have a choice," he defended.

"You were willing."

The goth sighed roughly, raking his fingers through his hair, white again and now resistant to dye. "Chase, I...my country _needs_ super-soldiers right now, and they needed test subjects for the serum."

"You could have died," the man growled at him, "like all the others, and you didn't put up so much as a fight."

"You don't understand!" Jack exclaimed, eyes tearing slightly, "All my life, I've been useless, a scrawny little weakling who'd never amount to anything because I'd 'probably die on my own before I hit puberty.' They...they offered me power; I took it. I know, because I've tested myself extensively! I can punch a hole in a _tank_. Bullets bounce off of me like they hit a titanium wall. I could probably even scale that Burj Dubai thing they're building without a safety net, and if I fell, I could get right back up and start climbing again. Chase...I'm invincible, now. _I_ have power for once; do...do you know how much that means to me?"

"Apparently enough to risk your life in more ways than one," the warlord frowned. "They could draft you at any time for their ridiculous war, and then what?"

"But they won't," Jack informed matter-of-factly, "because I lied. I faked every test of my abilities that they gave me; that's why I'm here. They deemed me and the project a failure, paid me nearly a trillion dollars to keep quiet about it, and sent me home. I came straight here because I didn't just do it for _me_; I did it for _you_, too. I want to serve you, Chase, I want to do everything I can to help you. I _love_ you, Chase, but...if this changes things too much for you..."

The man's golden eyes went wide at the implication, and he stepped forward, pulling the youth closer and forcing himself to ignore the scent of chemicals that had been so completely absorbed into his lover's body.

"Spicer," he said, "I love you, as well. Trust me when I say that there's absolutely nothing you could do or say to make that stop." Chase took the young super-soldier's lips in a soft kiss before pulling away and assuring, "Considering you are alive and well, the risk you took is a moot point, now. But...seeing as you _can_...maybe you'd like to spar with me?"

The teen brightened at the hopeful tone, realizing that Chase had only been scolding him about putting his life on the line and not the actual effect it'd had, and grinned, "Make it your dragon-form, and you're on."

**_533. Amorphous-_**

Jack giggled as the purple amorphous blob flopped off of his lab table to the floor with a wet squelch and a high-pitched squeal, causing Chase to groan in exasperation.

"Spicer, why do you insist on watching old movies and trying your hand at inventing their devices?"

"Hey," Jack defended, putting away his Flubber VHS and plucking the Back to the Future DVD from the shelf, "it passes the time between Showdowns. And speaking of time, I'll be needing a De Lorean DMC-12 so I can get the design wired in my head before I actually start experimenting with adding a flux capacitor and figuring out how to make it trigger a time-jump at 88 miles per hour; you know where I can get one, Chase?"

The man groaned again as the asinine thought to call his lover 'Doc Spicer' entered his head; he _really_ hoped it was a one time thing, because if stupidity was contagious, he was screwed.

**_534. Percentage-_**

"Jack, how are you feeling?"

The android nuzzled his cheek into the man's warm chest, quietly murmuring, "Animate functionality reduced to twenty-seven percent, master; I'll need to recharge for at least twelve, maybe even a full twenty-four hours."

A strong hand carded through synthetic red hair. "I believe I ordered you to speak like a normal human, my robot," he reminded.

Red eyes blinked somewhat tiredly before the mechanical teen amended, "I can barely move, Chase; I feel like I could sleep all day."

The wealthy entrepreneur grinned, pleased with the new answer, before gifting Jack's realistically-warm, silicone lips with a kiss. "Then you may do so if making love has tired you so much."

"What?" the android gasped, "But master-I mean, Chase; what about all the chores?"

"Forget them," the human demanded, "that's what service droids are for."

"But...I _am_ a service dro-"

"No," Chase decided, "from now on, you're as good as human. You will be known as Jack Spicer, lover to the weapons mogul, Chase Young, and no one need ever know that you're a robot."

"..."

Naturally, as a droid, Jack had _never_ entertained the idea of being human, or at least being _treated_ as one. Now that he did, considering how easy-to-execute Chase's suggestion was and how unlikely it was that he'd ever be found out (since no one really checked if you were human or not, as robots automatically just identified themselves as such)...the idea sounded nice.

"Okay...yeah." Red eyes brightened with a distinctly sentient light, not electric whatsoever as the prospect took root in his hard drive, and he grinned up at his mast-make that lover, happily declaring, "Sounds like a plan, Chase."

**_535. Anonymous-_**

Jack rushed to his locker the minute the passing period began, heart thumping with apprehension for every torturous second it took him to turn the dial of his lock to the correct numbers.

When the metal door finally swung open, however, lying on his AP Biology textbook was another letter, just as he'd hoped.

For a teen like Jack, high school was basically another word for hell: albinistic, a goth, a technology-lover, and about three years younger than all the other sophomores from being skipped a couple years, he was a prime target for bullying and mockery. He was getting straight As in all of his classes, but he had no friends, got picked on and/or beat up every day, and his crush pretty much hated him; this was the highlight of his day.

Every morning, just after first period, there would be a letter left in his locker, on beautiful stationary and lovely, romantic words written elegantly on it with the golden ink of a calligraphy pen, all declaring a deep and profound love for Jack.

The teen sighed dreamily as he was captivated by today's love-note; the goth no longer cared, as he had at first, who it was who was writing the letters that made his heart melt. Hell, it could even be that weird French kid he sat next to in Creative Writing, Gigi, and he'd be grateful!

After all, it may not have been the handsome, mysterious Chinese boy he was infatuated with, but _someone_ cared, loved him enough to brighten his day with such tender messages and declarations.

Chase watched out of the corner of his eye as the pale-skinned youth held the black piece of paper to his chest, hiding his lovestruck expression from the other students passing in the hall, even as his own fingers brushed contemplatively over it's sister-sheet in his pocket, this one reading only, 'School roof, 4:30'.

The older boy shook his head, dispelling all doubts; he had made his decision: tomorrow, this note would be placed in the goth's locker, and he would finally make his official claim on the teen he had anonymously admired for months.

**_536. Ardor-_**

"Chase?"

The man awoke and looked down at his young lover, prompting, "Yes, my Jack?"

"..." The albino looked tense and unsure of himself. "...does it bother you that I'm not real? That I'm...artificial?"

The second the words left the younger male's lips, the pirate's were on his, forcing the soft mouth into compliance to his with a forceful kiss.

"Don't think that," Chase snarled hotly, "don't _ever_ think that!"

"Sorry," Jack squeaked, "but...I'm _not_ a real person, Chase; I was made in a lab."

"And do you know _why_ you were made in a lab, my lover?" the elder demanded, and when he was given a negative head-shake in answer, he informed, "Because such perfection could _never_ occur naturally."

At Jack's embarrassed blush, the space-pirate smirked wickedly, moving his lips to a smooth throat, his hand stroking over a taut, navel-less stomach with an ardor that instantly soothed the genetic experiment's insecurities as he verbally assured, "I will never be sorry that you're 'artificial', Jack, because if you weren't, you never would've been mine..."

**_537. Record-_**

Jack shivered lightly, the thin material covering his upper torso an insufficient barrier to the too-cold air drifting in from the only, very high window in the room.

Damn that ditsy nurse for leaving it open, damn himself for not being tall enough to reach it, and damn this straitjacket for keeping him from trying!

It was times like this that made the young albino pine for the days when the voices weren't so loud and he could ignore them while enjoying the love he received from the man of his dreams.

This place, plain and simple, _sucked_.

And Chase...well, he'd all but stopped coming, and that hurt worse than _any_ electroshock treatment or torturous injection. The last time he'd visited was four months, twenty-two days, sixteen hours, thirteen minutes, and seven seconds ago; counting the moments was just about all he could do, now.

For the first time since he'd been locked up in this asylum, the thought occurred to him that...Chase might not _be_ coming back again, and Jack's head dropped, a soft sob escaping his throat.

Oh, god, he was going to die alone here, wasn't he? With nothing but a hospital record claiming him schizophrenic, manic-depressive, homicidal, suicidal, and whatever other disease they made up as a fancy way to say 'crazy' to be left behind!

The poor boy's eyes flooded with tears, and he began outright crying; where was Chase? He said he'd come for him! He could hold the voices at bay when Chase was there!

Even now, wicked suggestions were being whispered in his head, ranging from the coercion to smash his skull into the wall until it cracked open, ending everything, to the even more tempting idea of forcing his way out of this fuckin' stupid-ass coat, shattering that shitty, ten-foot-high window and shanking every fucker here with a shard of glass before finding that lying bastard that'd left him in this hell-hole and gutting him, then offing himself, if just for shits and giggles.

It felt like a million voices were screaming at him, shrieking and howling into his very mind, amused at his pain, and the part of him that was still sane forced him to cry even harder as his attempts to tune out the malicious cacophony were foiled; he was one hundred percent aware of how fucking _cracked_ he was, and he couldn't do a _damn_ thing about it.

Suddenly, strong arms encircled his quivering body, and for a minute, he thought he was hallucinating from the drugs again, but then that familiar voice spoke to him for the first time in nearly five months, and he knew it was real.

"Jack, shh, don't cry...what's wrong?"

His hallucinations could never get his voice _quite_ right.

The room was silent in an instant, every voice locked firmly away with his lover's presence. Sniffling slightly, the albino hesitantly questioned, "Ch...Chase?" desperately not wanting to be told otherwise.

The man smiled at him, cupping his cheek in one hand as he assured, "Yes, lover, it's me; I know I haven't visited in a long time, and I apologize. I've been very busy with all the planning to make sure that tonight goes off without a hitch and that everything goes just as smoothly afterwards. Now, we don't have much time, so-"

"What are you talking about?" Jack queried, confused.

"Escape, of course," Chase informed, already undoing the buckles of his beloved's straitjacket, "I promised I wouldn't leave you here, and I keep my promises; I love you, Jack, and I won't let you die in this place."

After a moment of gaping in surprise, Jack smiled happily, and the second the last strap came free, his arms shot around the man, hugging him tightly. "Oh, god, Chase, I love you, too. You're the only one who makes the voices stop."

The elder male gladly returned the hug, stating, "And you're the only one who makes this black heart of mine love." He pulled the teen to his feet, coaxing, "Let's get out of here; I've got some clothes and a Quarter Pounder for you in the car."

Jack's eyes brightened at the prospect. "Black clothes? And does the Quarter Pounder have cheese on it?"

Chase gave his lover a soft chuckle as he assured, "The blackest I could find in your wardrobe and as much as I could get that thirteen-year-old at the counter to put on it, in addition to a banana milkshake and two plane tickets under false names to a nice mansion in a remote part of China."

"Oh, fuck, I _love_ you, Chase." Jack tearfully giggled, to which his boyfriend pulled him close by his thinner-than-it-used-to-be waist and kissed him hard before breaking away and demanding, "We've got to move before the power comes back on and reactivates the security system."

The soon-to-be-goth-again wiped a few stray tears away from his eyes before happily nodding, "I'm with you, baby."

**_538. Operate-_**

"What, no cuddling?"

Chase scoffed and turned away, saying not a word.

"Aw, that's alright; that's just how you operate. I get it. But you feel better, right? 'Cause I thought it was pretty good."

"I admit, the sex _was_ good," the elder conceded, "although I was a bit surprised."

Jack blinked owlishly. "How so?"

"Well, with all your going on about being the 'fastest boy alive', I didn't expect you to last so long."

The younger teen scowled, groaning, "I _hate_ that zing; _everybody_ uses it."

Chase laughed, informing, "It's no wonder if you're that easy to insult; what happened to that, 'nothing gets to me' attitude?"

"Well," Jack huffed, "I'm glad Mr. Bad Luck finds my inner-pain so amusing; maybe you'd like to go back to those annoying retards _incorrectly_ called the Hive Five and yuck it up with them, hm?"

The older teen dragged the speedster's body up against his, scoffing, "Prima donna; I said I'd give good a try, and I meant it. You said you wanted to be with me, you're with me. You said that if any of the Titans' holier-than-thou attitudes got on my nerves, that I could take out my frustrations sexually on you, and I have. You should know by now that I won't be going back to them when I have someone like you to keep me here."

"Yeah," Jack sighed, admitting, "I was just being prissy; I _do_ trust you. Besides," he grinned cockily at his lover, "you'd die without me."

A small zap of static electricity jolted through the youth's body (technically from the blanket, although it was induced by a certain teen's supernatural ability of making bad luck), but Chase nonetheless cuddled his lover closer and flicked off the lamp on the bedside table.

**_539. Atypical-_**

Jack Spicer truly was an atypical man, Chase thought to himself, specifically when it came to the prince's treatment of him, a lowly concubine.

"What's wrong, Chase?" the albino straddling his waist inquired, concerned, "Are you not in the mood tonight? Would you rather cuddle?"

There was that abnormality again! Were it any other man (as the beautiful Chinese male knew from experience with several past masters), he would be slapped for not keeping his attention on his duty and then be forced to do said duty, roughly and usually until his master passed out from exhaustion (which, depending on the master, could range anywhere from five minutes to three hours).

Deciding to test the limits of his current owner's graciousness, he offhandedly mentioned, "My back hurts a bit; I think my mattress is too hard."

Barely after the words left his mouth, Jack's eyes widened and he assured, "Not for long; I will see to it that you are given a softer bed, skillfully-embroidered pillows, the finest silken sheets, and for the winter months, a velvet comforter, just as you deserve."

This time, it was Chase's eyes that widened, but he quickly covered his surprise and remembered he was trying to see how far this kind of generosity went. "And my skin has been feeling a bit dry, lately..."

"Then you shall have the finest soaps, lotions, and oils money can buy the very next time you bathe." the albino informed, kissing at the man's chest. "You will be treated to the best that I can give you."

"...I would like jewels, then. Diamonds and emeralds, sapphires and rubies."

He would be struck for this for sure: even to a kind master, asking for treasures was treason!

Chase's heart nearly skipped a beat when Jack only moved up to kiss and nuzzle at his throat, answering his request, "If that is what you want, then you shall have it."

Unable to help himself, the concubine harshly demanded, "What if I wanted to be king?! Would you give me that?!"

The younger male raised his head so that his nose was about a centimeter from Chase's, his eyes hooded and tone husky as he questioned, "_Do_ you want that, Chase?"

Somewhat lost in the ruby gaze, the man answered, "Yes..."

Jack pulled away to sit atop the elder man once again as he informed, "Then you shall be king."

Chase's jaw nearly dropped and he could only barely mutter the query, "Why would you do this? Why would you give up everything for a...a whore?"

"Because I'm in love with that whore," came the soft but oh-so-serious confession, "and I would do anything to see him happy."

The man was stunned, but when Jack moved from the bed, most likely to handle the paperwork of relinquishing his throne (so earnest was he about this), he snapped back to himself and sat up in bed, seizing a pale wrist in his hand.

"Wait." At Jack expectant expression, he elaborated, "If I am to be king...then I want _you_ as my queen."

The albino looked quite hopeful at the request, murmuring, "R...really?"

"Really," Chase assured, tugging the young man close and holding him dominantly (a refreshing change, as he was usually forced to submit, due to his occupation), "You are the kindest master I have ever had, and unlike all the others, I have always found your attentions pleasurable; I can think of no one else I would rather give my life to."

The elder male took his queen-to-be's lips with a heated passion, enjoying the control he appeared to have over the other who seemed to melt against him, Jack's heart overflowing with relief as he finally felt what he'd always desired to feel from Chase in place of bland nothingness: love.

**_540. Generation-_**

Chase sometimes envied his lover for being born in the generation of technology, not because he had any desire to build an iPhone or a Wii from scratch (as the goth sometimes did for fun), but because he had the feeling that it was a part of Jack's nearly-190 IQ, and some days, the man wanted nothing more than to end his lover's arrogant cackling about having four more points on said IQ than Chase did.

As far as he was concerned, it was a cruel injustice of fate to allow such a thing, anyway, but Jack seemed to disagree, hands holding his aching stomach and tears streaming from his eyes as he sniggered, "I'm smarter than you! Ha, fail, Chase, epic fail! And you're always going on about how _I'm_ an idiot! What's that make you?"

Chase growled and threw another object at his lover, but like the others, it was dodged, and the man could only growl and cross his arms in an evil version of a pout.

Maybe if Jack was born in _his_ generation, he'd have a little more respect for his elders!

--

**A/N:**

**_Encounter- _Continuation of _Telekinesis_ from Chapter 17, as requested by ScathingSarcasm. Jack's a quick learner, as Chase is finding out; it's not quite chack, yet, but it's getting there. :)  
**

**_Absorb- _I was bored, and Matt's been going on about Marvel nearly 24/7 now with all the superhero movies coming out, and my mind sort of drifted off during The Incredible Hulk movie, and I was like, "Hey, super-soldier formula; that'd make some interesting chack." And I thought specifically of that Blonsky guy in the movie, and how when he was only given the formula and not Bruce Banner's DNA or whatever (I wasn't really paying attention), like all his bones got crushed into gravel and within a day or two, he was perfectly fine again. I figured invincible!Jack would be pretty fitting because he just always seems to bounce back. This is not, however, a takeoff of the movie. It's just based on the idea of Jack being chosen to test out the formula, and what happens afterwards. Basically, he's like if Captain America and the Hulk were in love and made a baby, only he's not nearly as ugly as that baby would be; he just has the powers. :D Oh, also, Burj Dubai is going to be the tallest structure in the world; it's not quite done yet, but it will be, probably in 2009, says Wikipedia. **

**_Amorphous- _All I have to say is I found a place where I can order a t-shirt that has pictures of a flux capacitor, a De Lorean DMC-12 (which is the full name of the actual model, I looked it up) and a gauge that reads, '88 mph', plus signs in between all of them, and it all equals FUTURE. XD I want it quite badly.  
**

**_Percentage- _Continuation of _Error_ from Chapter 40; again, aww, 'cause there's always an 'aww' when a robot develops emotions. Chase wants Jack to pretend he's human from now on, and Jack agrees, because, who's gonna know? Srsly? No one, that's who! XD **

**_Anonymous- _No comment.  
**

**_Ardor- _****Continuation of _Response_ and _Cellular Damage_ from Chapters 45 and 52 respectively; Jack questions his existence, and Chase deftly forces those doubts from his head. :D****  
**

**_Record- _Continuation of _Examiner_ from Chapter 33, because I wanted to elaborate on Jack's mental condition, and then resolve the issue; for those who are worried about a mentally-ill Jack loose in the world, he only has problems when Chase isn't around. When he's there, Jack is pretty much normal, and Chase knows that, so he intends to stay close for not so much the good of the world, but more so that Jack doesn't get shacked up in the wacko basket again, and he'll have to break him out.  
**

**_Operate- _Continuation of _Convict_ from Chapter 35, because I started thinking about that 'fastest man alive' zing, and I figured I might as well use it in the context of KidFlash!Jack. XD This is, of course, set after Jinx!Chase has switched sides.  
**

**_Atypical- _Continuation of _Hardship_ from Chapter 39, in which requests are made, confessions are given, and all has ended well. :D  
**

**_Generation- _Ha, Chase is prissy! XD I've basically decided that in all of my fics or every time it needs to be referenced, I'm going to have Jack's IQ as 187, which, in this case, means that Chase's IQ would be 183. It's still in the 'Profoundly Gifted' range of the IQ reference chart I found over at Wikipedia, which is 175 and up, but it's the 4 point difference that Jack finds hilarious. XD**

**And there's Chapter 54, and like Chapter 53, it is quite long, though not the longest of the story; 53 still holds that title, barely. :)**

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! :D**


	55. Chapter 55

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_541. Bilk-_**

Chase hissed softly at the pain throbbing through his body, noting hatefully just how much more agonizing his hypersensitivity made the sensation of blood seeping from his abdomen feel.

Damn those monks; they had gotten _lucky_! As soon as he recovered from these wounds, he would make them _sorely_ regret _ever_ having tangled with him!

As it was, however, he couldn't very well _move_, much less muster the strength to enact horrible tortures.

One pointed ear twitched slightly at the sound of a twig snapping underneath a boot, the noise distinctive of a certain, one-of-a-kind boot, and he cracked open one molten gold eye in an annoyed glare. "_What_ do you _want_, Spicer?"

The teen only stared at him, eyes wide and an expression of shock on his ridiculously-innocent-for-someone-who-claimed-to-be-evil face.

Ire rising at not being answered, Chase growled, "Well? As you can see, I'm in no mood for your foolish antics!"

Jack seemed to snap back to reality and went to the everlord's side, quickly undoing the clasps and ties of his pretty much shredded armor. The elder frowned, demanding, "Proving yourself a traitorous bilk, again? Taking my armor while I am at a disadvantage as a souvenir of some kind? Or are you going to sell it for whatever cheap profit you can get at some pawn shop?"

Chase was mildly surprised when instead of being stripped of his upper clothing and abandoned, he found agile hands darting over his bare chest and stomach, inspecting the deep, bloody wounds there.

Jack then rummaged in his coat for a moment and the man abruptly felt a prick at his wrist, an odd numbness spreading disturbingly quickly through both his torso and his mind.

His eyes fogged slightly and when he spoke his voice came out less commanding than he'd wanted and more dazed as he questioned, "Wh...what are you doing, Spicer?"

"Shh," Jack hushed, running a hand through the injured male's hair, "just relax; I injected you with a fast-acting compound of my own design. It's like the love-child of morphine and anesthetic; your wounds look pretty bad, I mean, there's even bits of metal wedged in some of them from your armor, and I want to make sure you don't feel any pain while I take care of them."

The man's body twitched slightly, his eyes, though tired, still clearly showing his apprehension at the prospect.

"Hey, hey," the teen spoke, his hands lightly pressing against the elder's shoulders, "easy, Chase. I've done this sort of thing _and_ used the compound before plenty of times, coincidentally on myself, and I'm still here, right? It's perfectly safe, and I don't even have the scars to show for all the times those losers handed my ass to me, and trust me, there _would've_ been a lot. Just go to sleep, and I promise I'll take care of you."

Chase wasn't sure if it was something in the goth's voice, the chemical running through his body, or a bit of both as his eyes slipped almost obediently closed, his mind engulfed in blackness as Jack's skilled, steady hands threaded a needle and began their work.

**_542. Popped-_**

Chase had taken it upon himself to discover just what had brought about his lover's phobia of clowns when the goth had let slip that he had a feeling that it had something to do with his sixth birthday party, but claiming that he couldn't be sure because his memory of the event was a bit too hazy.

As far as the man was concerned, it was probably because it was a repressed memory. He hadn't had the Sands of Time in his possession, but he did now, and with the enunciation of the Wu's name, mind firmly set on the moment nine years in the past, he was taken back in time to his future lover's birthday celebration.

It seemed to be an outdoor party, at least thirty young children scattered over a well-kept lawn, all running around and playing gleefully. It was also an expensive bash, too, if one went by the over-sized moon-bounce, performing circus animals, and a mile-long sugary treat buffet, but a quick glance around told the man that, as usual, Mr. and Mrs. Spicer were nowhere to be found.

Chase's golden eyes glanced around again, looking for the six-year-old for whom the party was thrown amongst several of the larger groups of children before shaking his head derisively at himself; Jack had never had very many friends and had probably just invited his class because he needed _someone_ to show up, and said class probably only showed up because, hey, the rich kid's throwing a party.

If he wanted to find his albino, the best way to do it would be to find a secluded place and spot the only one there.

Sure enough, the minute his gaze traveled over to the rose garden, he caught sight of a small figure sitting on a bench, his posture suggesting depression or loneliness. Bingo: Jack.

Moving closer, he saw the six-year-old version of his lover slumping as he stared at a white bush of roses, a dark frown crossing the boy's face before he picked up a large rock and tossed it at the offending plants, bending their stems and tearing their soft petals.

The amount of self-loathing in the child's stare startled the warlord and he stepped forward a bit to comfort his Jack.

"Hey there, little boy, what are you doing here all by yourself?"

The albino looked up and tensed at the sight of a brightly-colored individual with a rainbow-colored afro and a bulbous, red nose. Chase had stopped himself from interfering when he'd seen the clown approach.

"I...I don't know," the boy murmured quietly, suddenly finding his feet particularly interesting, "I just am."

The clown abruptly started laughing, causing Jack to stare up at him with apprehension. When the grating noise stopped, the painted man questioned, "What's your favorite animal, squirt?"

White hands fisted in a pale blue t-shirt, and the albino uncertainly answered, "M-monkey..."

Chase couldn't help his smile at the answer.

The clown smiled too, pulling a long, brown balloon from behind his back and blowing it up, his hands quickly bending and twisting the rubber into the shape of the desired animal. Jack stared in awe as the balloon animal was held out to him, red eyes shining brightly as he reached ever-so-slightly out for it...

And then a pin was stuck into it, the rubber object popping nearly instantly.

The boy flinched at the sharp noise that assailed his ears, a soft, whimpering noise emanating from his throat as his hands shot back to his chest.

The clown cackled again, clearly _at_ him this time, and mocked, "Go on, you little loser, stop wallowing in your freakishness and actually _try_ to make some friends!"

Within the space of a second, a gloved hand was brought sharply down on the junction of neck and shoulder, and the clown was out cold on the ground, and armored boot kicking his side roughly to get him out of the way.

Jack squeaked as the mysterious, kind of scary man approached him and took a step back until Chase soothed, "Easy, Jack, I won't hurt you."

The boy's eyes widened. "Yuh...you know my name?"

"Of course I do," the warlord assured, "whether you believe me or not, I'm an important person to you in the future."

"Wow, really?" Jack gasped, his very essence alight with joy at the prospect, "From the future?"

Chase chuckled at the boy's scientific curiosity, even at such a young age. "Yes, I am. But, unfortunately, I have to leave now; if I stay much longer, I might seriously affect the time stream." A lie as he knew how to properly observe the past and not change anything fundamental, but nonetheless.

"Wait," Jack stopped him, "before you go, what's the future like? What am _I_ like? Do I...do I ever make any friends?"

The warlord knelt to his albino's level, laying a strong hand on his shoulder. "I only have two things to tell you: first, don't give up hope on me; I'll come around eventually. And second..." he pressed a quick kiss to a pale forehead before pulling away and giving Jack one of his rare smiles, "happy birthday, Jack."

And within the space of a minute, he had activated the Sands of Time and was back at his own citadel, in the correct time period.

He placed the Wu on the bedside table before charming off his armor and now wearing only a comfortable pair of sleep pants as he lifted the covers of his bed and lay next to his mate, enjoying the albino's warmth.

Well, now a lot of things made sense: why Jack was afraid of clowns, why his favorite derogatory name was 'loser', why he was always insecure about his pale skin and red eyes, but even though Chase hadn't been able to do anything to change those things, he had made one big difference in his lover's life.

He had wished him a happy birthday when no one else would and given him that inexplicable perseverance in vying for the warlord's attention, and as Jack rolled over and curled his arms around the man's neck, sleepily cooing, "I love you, Chase," he got the feeling that that had made all the difference.

**_543. Brandish-_**

A tournament was about to begin in only two weeks, and so a combination of many nobles and many knights had been gathered in the tradition of the kingdom, the knights paraded out before the royals as they were inspected like pieces of meat, assessed for their suitability.

Normally, knights accepted the offer of the first noble that asked for their honor to be protected by them, as some considered it rude to reject their offer.

Chase Young had no such considerations.

At least thirty buxom young princesses had approached him, batting their eyelashes and sending him coy looks while they so sweetly pleaded, "Will you defend me, brave knight?" To each, he sneered and turned away, scoffing, "I would not waste the effort to lift my sword for the likes of you," and each reddened with the fury of rejection and stormed off to find another, saying to themselves that they had no need for his protection when they knew quite well that he had, nonetheless, been their first choice.

Chase watched his fellow warriors as, one by one, they were tempted and chosen by various ladies and gentlemen. Was there no one worthy of him?

"Excuse me, valiant knight?"

The man's ears perked at the soft inquiry and he turned to see a young prince before him, somewhat stunned to note such a soft white coloring the youth's short locks and unblemished skin and a shade of red that he had only seen before in blood and rubies looking up at him with all the sweetness of honey.

"Would you do me the honor of-"

"Say no more," Chase interrupted the shy creature, bringing his hand up to lightly grip the male's chin, "you do not believe you rightfully _deserve_ my protection; you respectfully _request_ it. I will gladly brandish my sword for you, young prince."

**_544. Blurb-_**

"This is an outrage!" Chase roared indignantly, "How _dare_ they show such disrespect?! I'll-"

"Chase, Chase, calm down," Jack soothed, hands rubbing at his lover's shoulders, "it's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal?" the man repeated incredulously. "After all of your hard work and it's 'not that big of a deal'? I _know_ you worked your fingers to the bone in the making of that textbook, writing, rewriting, and editing, for nearly four whole _years_, and now that it's finally been published, your name is barely a blurb on the book jacket! There are 48 chapters in that book, Spicer, and I happen to know that 47 of them were written by _you_. This is unacceptable!"

The goth frowned and noted, "Well, the point isn't if I get recognized, it's that people learn from it, and if even _one_ person takes something away from it, then I'm happy."

Chase scowled at him. "Please, Spicer, you expect me to believe you think that? _You_? For the love of all that is evil, I _know_ you, and I know that there is _no way_ you don't want full recognition for this."

Jack sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Chase, I...yeah, alright, I admit it; I _do_ want the credit, but...just leave it alone, alright? I don't want to make a big deal about it."

The warlord narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, nonetheless grumbling, "As you wish..."

The albino smiled brightly, hugging the man as he muttered against his neck, "Thanks, Chase."

The hug was allowed, Jack surely having _no_ idea that Chase planned to corner the head of the publishing company the following morning and make a _very_ convincing case to why the singular-chapter-writing imbecile should be all but removed from credit and his lover given the correct amount of recognition, just as he deserved.

**_545. Buffoonery-_**

"Enough of this buffoonery!" Chase growled above Wuya's and Jack's squabbling, to which both redheads immediately silenced themselves. "Such childish idiocy; I expected this from you, Spicer," the man took the moment to sneer at the goth (who flinched at the smoldering stare) before turning his gaze back to the female, "but Wuya; I expected _much_ better of you."

The woman had the decency to look ashamed.

"I would prefer if you leave, by the way," the warlord addressed in a superior manner, standing from his throne, "as punishment; I will be dealing with your former partner _quite_ severely, and to penalize you for your immaturity, I am refusing you the right to watch."

"What?!" Wuya practically shrieked, "But-but-but...I-"

"I will hear none of your protests, witch," he glared at her, "I have made my decision: leave."

Reluctant to miss such an opportunity but even _more_ reluctant to find out what Chase would do to _her_ if his demands weren't obeyed, the woman sighed and walked from the room, figuring that even though the door swung closed and locked tightly behind her, the man had never said anything about not being allowed to listen.

Speaking low so the sound wouldn't travel past the door, Jack whispered, "What're you gonna do to me, Chase?"

The warlord smirked, curling an arm around the goth's waist as he informed, "It occurred to me that it might be interesting to make love with someone listening and yet having no idea what's _really_ going on; so long as you're careful with your exclamations, I'll be torturing you as far as Wuya is concerned. What do you say, lover?"

Jack smirked up at the man, eyes mischievous as he answered, "I say it sounds kinky..."

Judging by the pained cries she'd heard, Jack's ruffled appearance, the bruises and cuts on just about every visible place on his body, and the way he practically limped out of Chase's palace, Wuya was sure the man'd done a number on the teen, and was sorely disappointed she'd missed it.

**_546. Crowded-_**

Chase sighed roughly, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep puff, needing the nicotene at the moment.

When the hell did this city get so damned _crowded_? People everywhere these days; it made him sick to think about it! At this rate, there would so many that within the next year, his job would be _impossible_!

A sharp rapping on his door caught his attention, and he looked over somewhat disinterestedly before calling, "Come in! The door's open."

This'd be his first client in a month, if it wasn't just his landlord coming to bitch about his late rent, again.

Thankfully, Hannibal's aging face didn't poke it's way through the door, but that of a young man, maybe seventeen, eighteen years old, looking quite disheveled. "A-are you Chase Young? The private eye?"

"That's what it says on the door, boy," he pointed out, finding the blush that spread across particularly pale cheeks somewhat interesting, "now do you have a job for me, or are you just stopping by?"

The youth took the seat in front of his desk, his hands wringing anxiously in his lap. "Yes, I do, actually. My name is Jack Spicer. You see, one of my close friends went missing, a woman named Wuya, and then a few days later, I got a note saying she was being held for ransom, and that if I didn't bring all the money I had to a very secretive location within three days, they'd kill her! I just...I had no idea what to do, so I...I decided to come here."

Chase made a contemplative noise in his throat, summarizing, "So some thugs took your girlfriend and you want my help."

Jack looked surprised at the assumption and corrected, "Oh, no, she's not...she's not my girlfriend. To be honest, I don't...um...like girls..."

The man arched an eyebrow, inspecting the younger male's frame and face before questioning, "You a tranny, then?"

"Huh?" was the squeaked answer, "Where'd you get that?"

"The eyeliner," Chase answered, indicating the black color smeared down Jack's cheeks, probably from tear-tracks; he looked like he'd been crying.

"Well, I'm not," the teen answered firmly, "I'm a man, and I agree with that biological fact; I just...like other men...-look, this isn't really the issue! Can you help me or not?"

Smiling a bit at the annoyed expression on Jack's face, he asked, "I think the more important question is: can you afford me?"

The young man looked like he was thinking, and in reality, he was; he was trying to think of the best way to make absolutely _sure_ his case would be taken.

For Wuya's sake, he didn't have time to find another private eye.

"Four thousand," he firmly offered. "The first half now, and the other half if you save my friend."

Chase found himself gaping at the amount offered; with that much, he'd be on easy street for probably the rest of his life! How rich could this kid _be_?

"F...four thousand?" he echoed, still a bit stunned.

"If that's not enough for you, then _six_ thousand! Will you help me or not, dammit?!"

Chase stood from his chair and grabbed Jack's hand, shaking it firmly. "You've got yourself a deal, Spicer; now, how about letting me see that note they gave you?"

**_547. While-_**

Jack sighed, his breath showing through the air in a puff of white as he rubbed at his upper arms, hoping the friction would cause a bit of warmth, protection from the cold, winter air.

His hope was in vain, as friction does just about as much against below-zero temperatures as a black, sleeveless top does, but there was no _way_ he was going back inside, now.

The note from his secret admirer said that he or she wanted to meet here at 4:30, and even though some of the jocks had bumped into him in the hallway, beaten him up and taken his jacket, he had still managed to make it to the school roof at exactly 4:25, on the dot.

Oh, the suspense was _far_ worse than the cold nipping at his skin, though, and he felt as if his heart was going to go into cardiac arrest any second; who the hell could it have been? Who did he even know that didn't try to kill him every day?

Well, there was Wuya...eew; _hope_ it's not her.

There was Raimundo-no, no, he _hated_ him; just 'cause he didn't physically hurt him didn't mean he didn't want to, so he was _definitely_ out.

That one guy, Clay, had smiled at him once or twice...no, he was just polite; he smiled at _everybody_.

That Kimiko chick, maybe? No, not her either; he'd expressed interest in her _one time_ and politely asked to go to the prom with her, and she'd nearly broken his nose. She was out, too.

...Oh, god, it couldn't be..._Omi_, could it? He was always a sugary ball of sweetness (if a bit full of himself), and so it was no real stretch that he could possibly have those feelings...but no, it couldn't be him, either, because whoever had been writing him those letters for the past few months had a impressive mastery of words, all of which seemed as if they had flown from the pen used to write them with a lyrical grace that only someone who had the ability to speak English (and _well_) could have made them do, and Omi was _certainly_ not one of those people.

Who the hell admired him?!

Something warm draped over his shoulders suddenly, and before he could turn to see who it was who was there, a hot mouth began kissing at his neck, nipping and licking every so often at strategic places.

Jack gasped softly at the ministrations, squirming a bit from startlement, but soon relaxing somewhat as he felt a wall of warm, solid muscle press against his back while black gloved hands gripped at his arms to hold him in place.

After a while, the goth couldn't hold back a quiet moan at the beyond-pleasant feeling, _desperately_ wanting to see who was holding him, who was touching him so tenderly (he honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd been touched without there being the intent of causing pain, and now that it was happening, it was the most wonderful thing he could recall feeling _ever_), and a small whine of want escaped his throat as he tried to turn his head just enough to see the male's face, and it _was_ a male, by the way; there was no mistaking the distinctively masculine scent and the strong hands around his arms.

Besides, if it was a chick, she had the flattest chest he'd ever encountered in a girl before.

Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in his attempt, as whoever was kissing his neck was more forceful than he was, and redoubled his efforts, nudging the albino's head back to it's original position so that he could keep the space he had.

_Fortunately_, the movement caused a lock of hair to fall onto Jack's shoulder where he could see it, and upon doing so, he gasped sharply; there was probably no one else in the world that had black-green hair like that.

"Chase?" he squeaked, shock emanating from his every pore.

The younger boy found himself whirled around, and sure enough, it was Chase Young, only the guy he'd had a crush on for, like, _ever_! "I...I don't...why?" was his elegant statement.

The senior smirked down at him, tightening his coat around the sophomore's shoulders as he questioned, "What is there not to understand, Spicer? I am the one who has been writing you those letters. I am your secret admirer. I find you intelligent, beautiful, and perfect, and I want you to be mine. It seems fairly simple to me."

Though he desperately wanted to believe this on the spot, Jack knew he couldn't take another devastating blow to his emotions and demanded, "Prove it."

"And how do you want me to prove it?"

The teen thought for a moment before posing, "How did the first letter you wrote me start?"

Chase hardly seemed fazed by the challenge, and easily recited from memory, "My dearest gothic angel, I have admired you from afar for many a week now, and have decided that I can be silent about my affections for you no longer. I find the torment you endure as a renegade soul in a world of ignorant fools who don't understand anything about you despicable, and-"

"Okay," the younger teen stopped him, "I believe you. But...if you liked me, why were you always so mean to me when I tried to talk to you? And when you saw me getting my ass kicked, why didn't you help me?"

Chase sighed quietly, pulling Jack up against him as he explained, "I desperately wanted to, Spicer, I know it sounds ridiculous, but I did. Unfortunately, I had a reputation to protect and...no, it still doesn't make it right. All I can do is offer my apologies and hope that you can forgive me."

Red eyes teared up slightly, and the goth gave a watery chuckle, burying his face against Chase's chest. "Gawd, Chase, of _course_ I forgive you...I...I'm practically in _love_ with you, dammit!"

The older boy half-smiled, raising the younger's chin. "That's good, because, honestly, I feel the same way about you..."

Their lips met for a hot kiss, pent-up passion and frustration making it even hotter, white hands tangling in dark hair and decidedly tanner hands firmly gripping slim hips in a tight hold.

Pulling away, Chase took the time to trace a particularly dark bruise on Jack's cheek, quietly demanding, "Who did this to you?"

"That Hannibal guy," the sophomore answered, "he and his gang caught me on my way here and stole my jacket."

"Then I'll prove how much I care for you, Spicer." Chase decided, "I'll get your coat back for you tomorrow, _in public_. I don't care who knows anymore."

Red eyes lit up in awe and he kissed the senior hard, breaking away with a shy smile. "Thank you, Chase. Thank you."

**_548. Tower-_**

Jack gazed out of his window, sighing softly as he stared at the city it overlooked: tiny, little houses made of wood and straw, larger shops made of stone, and at the center of town, the church, a massive structure that dwarfed all other buildings (save the one Jack currently inhabited) and practically shone in the light, beautiful and breathtaking with the way the sun glowed through the stained glass.

The most impressive feature of the building of worship, however, in the young man's eyes was the large tower that housed the church bell, and every morning, noon, and night he made a point to gaze at it.

Why?

Because from where he was in his tower, he could see the men who rang the bell whenever it was time for a sermon, and one of them in particular had managed to catch his eye.

Judging by his looks in comparison to the other few who aided him, he was particularly tall and handsome as far as men went, yet he could still pull his weight in ringing the gigantic bell just as much as his companions if not _more_ than them. The dark green hair spilling down his back looked so silky and soft, even from such a distance, and the golden glint from his eyes made the noble's young heart beat faster in his chest at the sight of such masculine beauty.

It was his torture, he supposed, born possessed by a demon (red eyes and white skin gave the beast within away) and locked up in this room until the evil spirit left him, falling head over heels for a man he would never once meet in person, but really, to keep his eyes on that gorgeous man was all Jack could do.

**_549. Eunuch-_**

Jack knew that the men handling him were eunuchs and wouldn't even _attempt_ to touch him sexually as they had no drive, but it was still weird to feel their hands on him, bathing him, combing his hair, changing his clothes, and adorning him with fine jewelry.

It was..._creepy_.

However, waltzing into his king's bedroom chamber, clothed in only a skimpy loincloth and several silver bracelets and necklaces as Chase pulled him to the bed and began kissing him passionately, Jack decided that it was worth being touched by so many male hands if the preparations would ensure the touches of this particular pair.

**_550. Cacophony-_**

A shudder rippled through Jack's body at the grating cacophony of laughter around him from basically every student in the lunch room, a wave of humiliation sweeping through him as he was absolutely sure they were all laughing directly at him; not a single one of them felt bad that Hannibal was openly taunting him about stealing his beloved coat.

God, this _really_ sucked...

Suddenly, though, the laughing stopped, and the goth looked up to see Chase standing in front of him, shoulders tense as he faced his fellow senior.

"What's wrong, Chase?" he demanded, "You want a shot at the fag, too?"

Jack nearly fainted at the sight of his secret boyfriend's fists clenching, abruptly knowing _exactly_ what he was going to do, but before he could stop him from doing something so crazy, he did it.

Chase's fist cracked viciously across the school bully's cheek, sending him backwards at _least_ a yard or two and into a wall.

A collective gasp filled the lunch room, and as Hannibal's cronies went to make sure he was okay (and he _was_ still breathing, but he had been knocked out cold from the hit), the dark-haired senior picked up the trench coat that had been dropped and handed it to the sophomore, announcing to the entire school, "_No one_ touches _my_ Jack," before roughly taking the goth's lips in a kiss.

Jack knew it should be _really_ awkward to kiss Chase now that the whole school knew he actually _was_ gay, and for the handsomest boy in school, no less, not to mention the fact that said boy was just as gay for him, but really, it just seemed natural.

--

**A/N:**

**_Bilk- _Just so everyone knows, the Merriam-Webster definition of 'bilk' as a noun is 'an untrustworthy tricky individual****, a cheat'. For a while, half of the chapter is going to be a vocabulary lesson, because Matt decided to give me a bunch of SAT words (about 50 of them) and so for the next couple of chapters, I'll be defining the words that aren't widely known or used. :)  
**

**_Popped- _This was inspired by a one-shot I read in the Metalocalypse section (which doesn't really exist, but I was looking it up here, anyways) about why Charles hates clowns, and since I LOVE Charles like crazy, I had to read it; if you're into Metalocalypse, then it goes by the name of "So Why Don't You?" by Rei-hime (and the only real way to look it up without having to sift through a bunch of crap is searching by author, and it's like her second story from the top; you can't miss it). If it's not your cup of tea, pretend I never even mentioned it. :D **

**_Brandish- _No comment.  
**

**_Blurb- _Aww, Chase is standing up for Jack; yay! Oh, and don't worry about that publisher guy; Chase is just going to _talk_ to him...yes..._talk_... :insert shifty eyes here: **

**_Buffoonery- _More chack-as-if-it-were-canon; not to say it's not already, but...more _blatantly_ canon. :)  
**

**_Crowded- _This was inspired by a suggestion I got from ScathingSarcasm when she mentioned a 30s detective theme in that survey thing I have on my profile, and I thought, "Hey, why not?" :D****  
**

**_While- _Continuation of _Anonymous_ from Chapter 54, in which identities are revealed and promises are made. :)  
**

**_Tower- _I guess I'm thinking in a medieval theme for some reason. o.o Anyway, set in medieval times, obviously, where Jack is kept pretty much isolated because he's an albino, but a certain bell-ringer has stolen his heart. I'll probably write a continuation to this, because knowing me, I can't leave him in such an emo-tastic situation. -.-  
**

**_Eunuch- _Harem!Jack, because he's always fun. :D  
**

**_Cacophony- _Continuation of _While_ from Chapter 55 (this one, peoples), in which promises are kept. :D**

**Also, this has official earned the title of 'Longest Chapter in Anthology of Love'. with a word count of 5,631 words.**

**And that'd be Chapter 55 in it's entirety, so...thanks for reading! :D**


	56. Chapter 56

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_551. Calumny-_**

"Ha! You believe _your_ knight will win this tournament?" an arrogant duke scoffed, "Impossible! He is not of good breeding; after all, he is from the Far East, is he not? He will surely lose to the likes of my proud, _English_ knight! There is no chance that you _or_ your filthy foreigner will win, you ugly devil!"

Jack flinched at the insult, wanting to disappear from embarrassment as the man laughed loudly at him before wandering away somewhere. A gloved hand lay firmly on his shoulder, and he turned to see the warrior he had chosen, decked out in full armor with his helmet under his arm.

"Do you honestly believe such calumny, young prince?" Noting that Jack took just a little too long to answer with a 'no', Chase fixed the youth with a hard stare, assuring, "I will not lose. You are no 'ugly devil', Spicer, and I will prove it to every duke, duchess, prince, princess, king, and queen here, even if I have to impale every last one of these warriors to defend your honor; I swear it."

Jack gave the man that sweet smile that made him want to murder a million men so as to assure that such a smile would never be given to another and spoke, "Thank you, Chase; I know you won't disappoint."

A devilish idea taking root in his mind, the former Chinese general cupped a pale cheek in one of his large hands, enjoying the contrast between the white skin and the dark leather of his glove, finding it even more lovely as it was added to by a bright pink blush, before leaning forward to capture a soft pair of lips with his own.

When he pulled away, he chuckled quietly, amused at the now even darker color and flustered expression on his charge's face as he explained, "A kiss for luck, my prince."

That night, the first of the tournament, the knight of a certain duke had the misfortune of having his heart speared on a lance in the first run of the first event, the joust, leaving Jack to watch from the audience, his fingers raising to his lips as he was stunned by the sight of the gorgeous Asian warrior standing triumphantly in the arena, taking his applause.

Perhaps his kisses _were_ lucky, after all!

**_552. Network-_**

"Hello, my name is Jack; how may I help you?"

"Hello, Spicer."

"Chase?" the albino hissed softly, "What the _hell_? How did you get this number?"

A disparaging 'tsk' from the other end. "Nerd Network has a public number; I checked the phone book."

Jack face-palmed with a quiet growl, trying not to alert his fellow phone operators to his plight. "I meant how'd you get _me_?"

"Why don't you not worry about how I contacted you and just talk to me?"

"_Chase_," the goth whined pleadingly, "I'm working now; I don't have _time_ to entertain you! I have _actual_ customers with _actual_ problems to help!"

"Please," came the laughing scoff, "just yesterday, you complained of asking twenty-seven people the question, 'did you plug it in?' and got a negative response from all of them; they're morons, and don't deserve your help. _I_, however, miss you, and _I_ want to speak to you. That's a reasonable request, isn't it?"

Jack sighed, holding his head in his hands. "Okay, fine, Chase: I'll humor you. What do you want to have a conversation about?"

A black chuckle came from the other end before Chase spoke, "Talk nerdy to me..."

CLICK, went the phone in his ear as Jack disconnected the call, instead opting to help a woman who wanted to know why her PC game wouldn't work in her DVD player.

**_553. Cantankerous-_**

Chase was awakened from a calm slumber by the rough motion of the sheets as they were yanked harshly away, a dull thump sounding as his lover fell out of bed and onto the floor with the loud, tired slur of, "Goddammit, fuckin' stupid piece of crap!"

Oh, no...it was one of _those_ mornings...

The man tried not to wince as he heard Jack manage to get back on his feet and shuffle out of the bedroom, only to hear another thud and the colorful sentence, "Mother-fuckin' gay-ass...what's it called? It's on the tip of my tongue-wall! Fuckin' retarded wall! Bastard..."

At the sound of several pained curse words (too far away to really hear, but they were _surely_ too filthy to be repeated) and whump noises, Chase realized with a sense of dread that his lover had fallen down the stairs, and he got up and teleported himself to the bottom to see the goth in an unmoving heap on the floor.

Reaching a hand to the teen's shoulder to help him up, the warlord flinched back when his hand was roughly batted away, Jack standing on his own and snarling, "Don't touch me, I'm not your whore!"

Chase groaned quietly as the albino trudged into the kitchen, and only when he heard the sounds of coffee being made and poured did he dare to venture in.

Upon opening the door, the man was greeted by the cheery chirp of, "Good morning, Chase!" and the sight of his lover smiling brightly at him with his dark grey, 'Coffee, chocolate, men: some things are just better rich' mug filled to the brim with piping hot, Guatemalan blend, black coffee in his slender, white hands.

The warlord was finally forced into the realization that there was something in the world that he, Chase Young, truly feared, and it was his cantankerous young lover in the mornings before he's had his coffee.

**_554. Aside-_**

Jack knew Chase hated him and all, but it still hurt to always be shoved aside by him.

It hurt to shove the beautiful goth aside so callously just as much as it hurt said individual, but Chase knew it had to be done: if either the Heylin or Xiaolin had _any_ idea how deeply he cared for Jack, the albino would never be even _relatively_ safe from either again.

**_555. Circumlocution-_**

"Father?"

"What is it, son?" came the cold demand, and Jack winced at the utter indifference in the deep tone.

"I...I would like to attend Church this Sunday."

"Absolutely not," the man reprimanded, "you are a demon; I will not have you see in public."

"Please, father," Jack begged, "I could go covered up, and...and maybe the sermon could serve to purify my soul? _Please_, father, I _beg_ you!"

The duke gave brief consideration to this before deciding, "Hmm, I suppose that would be acceptable...but you are to be covered head-to-toe and you shall remain in the care of two of my vassals, and should you try anything, you will be punished _most_ severely!"

The pale youth smiled softly, humbly thanking his father.

Soon he would have his chance...

The preacher's monotonous voice droned in Jack's ears as he completely ignored every word said, red eyes darting around the room, even shaded by the dirty brown hood as they searched for what they wanted: the door to the bell tower.

It wasn't hard to spot, as there was a sign right next to it indicating it as such, but the youth knew his biggest problem would be his father's vassals, two big, burly men flanking him on either side.

All he needed was an openin-and there it was!

As every one stood to go and receive the Eucharist, Jack managed to slip past the men, dashing from the pews even as they followed close on his heels, a shocked clamor arising from the other church-goes.

He wasn't worried about the man not being there; he knew for a fact from observation that he never attended church and merely waited until his fellow bell-ringers returned from the sermon.

Finally making it all the way up the stairs, he wrenched the door leading to the actual bell-chamber before slamming it behind him, finding the nearest heavy object (which was a piece of an older, broken bell) and wedging it in the door.

Jack ignored the way his lungs ached for air and the stitch in his side from running so quickly and unexpectedly. He ignored his heart thumping loudly in his chest, threatening to fail under the stress any minute now. He ignored the harsh pounding noises upon the door as the thugs tried to break it down, he ignored the surprised expression on the gorgeous male's face, and he ignored the way his hood fell around his shoulders, revealing his freakish looks to the world.

He didn't care.

All he cared about was seizing the dark-haired man by the shoulders and kissing him deeply, savoring the occasion as best as he could.

After a moment, he pulled away, looking seriously into mildly shocked golden eyes.

"I have no time for circumlocution; you don't know me, and after today, you won't see me again, but know this: I love you."

The man had barely opened his mouth to give what would likely be a confused or flabbergasted reply when the wood of the door shattered and the albino young man was seized and dragged away, kicking and screaming until a big, particularly-knuckled hand pressed against his mouth while the other vassal's anaconda-like arm curled around slender legs and held tightly, both of which combined to silence Jack and, for the most part, end the wild thrashing.

Chase could only watch as the strange young man was pulled away, too stupefied to do much of anything else. When the ability to think returned to him, after just under a full minute, the red-eyed youth and his two silent captors now gone, only one message made itself clear in his thoughts: he _had_ to see that boy again, _no matter what._

**_556. External-_**

It was getting harder, Chase decided, to keep his expression, demeanor, and posture, all external aspects of him, schooled into a chilling, utterly frozen indifference every time Jack Spicer found occasion to be near to him when all he really wanted to do conflicted so _drastically_ with his character.

Whenever the goth began speaking too fervently, he had to struggle to smack the boy and tell him to shut up instead of silencing him with his mouth.

He found it a challenge to snarl cruel words at the albino when he expressed his utmost admiration for the man as opposed to accepting it gratefully and expressing his _own_ admiration for the boy.

Hell, he didn't even know how much longer he could resist his urges should Jack continue appearing in his presence mostly naked!

It felt like his illusory world was crashing down around him, and the warlord had no idea when every last bit of it would topple down, fully exposing the truth to the world, but he knew there was no way to stop what was already in motion.

All Chase could do was allow his golden eyes to rest on the utterly relaxed, sleeping white face of the young man that had managed the impossible and captured his heart, hoping that when the truth finally _did_ come out, Jack would spare him a cruel role reversal and accept his affections.

**_557. Clandestine-_**

Jack whimpered softly, murmuring against his lover's chest, "Chase, I...I don't think I can keep this up much longer..."

"What do you mean?" the man asked quietly, careful not to alert any others who might be lurking in the night to this clandestine affair.

"I just...this secretive bullshit! I don't know how much longer I can take it, Chase! You say you love me, but you're still dating that...that...bitch! It feels a lot like I'm being used, and you know I love you, but if I'm nothing more than a worthless affair to spice up your love-life, then I...I can't do this with you anymore."

Golden eyes widened in the darkness, and he tightened his hold on a small waist, as if to keep the younger male from leaving him. "No, Jack, you...you can't. I won't _let_ you leave."

"So, then, I'm supposed to stay just 'cause Wuya bores you? I can't ever have a _real_ boyfriend, because Mr. Selfish wants me to stay an unfulfilled home-wrecker?"

Chase's pride took a devastating blow as the point was made that Jack refused to consider their relationship even _remotely_ serious unless some sort of commitment was made to him (which was natural, considering that he had always progressed faster than other boys his age; whereas another young man not even in his twenties quite yet would fear commitments like the plague, Jack was beginning to crave them like a man nearing middle age would at a point in his life when he was single, although his personality was still that of an adolescent).

"Spicer, listen to me: if it will appease you, I'll break it off with Wuya. I have a friend we can stay with for awhile in California, and if you're serious about this, then we'll get married there."

Red eyes went wide. "M-married?"

"Yes," Chase assured sternly, "I can have the whole ceremony and honeymoon arranged within a week, maybe a few days more. If you really want me and this isn't just a ploy to keep my attention, then it'll be easy to make this happen. Well, Jack?" he questioned at the albino's utter silence, "Decide."

"..." The gears turning in Jack's head were practically audible as he thought it over intensely. Ultimately, though, he decided, "Yes. Fuck Wuya, let's get married! I really _do_ want you, Chase; I don't want anyone else to have you, and I don't want anyone else to have _me_, either!"

The man smirked, clearly pleased with his lover's answer, as he forced his lips to Jack's in a quick, hot kiss. Tearing his mouth away after a moment, his golden eyes shined with a sort of a mischievous glow as he questioned, "What would you say to honeymooning in China?"

**_558. Ethics-_**

Spicer gave a mental hiss as he felt his other consciousness stirring within him, that of Professor Jack Bonham, and his body twitched slightly as he held the man back.

If he had known the goody two-shoes doctor was going to be such a pest, he would have found a way to kill the man before pressing the foolishly-named, 'Holy cow, don't press this button' button; at least then, when he had pressed it, he'd have free reign of this body instead of having to share it with that simpering pansy!

His lover noticed the slight movement of his body, however, and asked, "The human acting up again?"

"Yes," he admitted, running a hand through his white hair, careful of his true, outer brain on the left side of his head, "apparently he not only has an ethical crisis with being an evil scientist, but homosexual relationships, too."

Chase groaned at the explanation of the issue, his serpentine lower half (he could shift between human and snake from the waist down, but he generally liked to sleep with a snake tail) coiling tightly around the albino's legs. "It's sad, really; you might actually get away with your schemes if he didn't hold you back so much. I know _you_, the _real_ you, and your mind is feral, vicious-"

"You can own that up to that prejudiced pet store owner," the younger interrupted, "why the hell do you think I always go after cheese? The rotten bastard starved me for almost a month, and then I finally get bought, and that insufferable Bonham forces me to watch him glut himself on all kinds of food while leaving me to suffer."

"Regardless," Chase decided, "it no longer matters. You can exhibit as many of yours and his ridiculous traits as you like (and I know you have them; evil as you are, you've shown me enough of that to know it's not _all_ Bonham's influence) so long as you keep focus; you and I will conquer this city, soon, and there's no chance that that pesky WordGirl can stop us."

Spicer smirked at the thought of the red/pink-costumed Asian girl reduced to a pile of glop due to his giant goop ray, imagining his fairly new lover standing above a little yellow monkey transformed into stone statue under his gaze. "I like the sound of that: Dr. Two-Brains and Mandusa Conquer The City."

At the nickname, the other villain scowled darkly, giving him 'the look'.

"Oh, shut up, Chase, you brought it on yourself; by existing as a supervillain here without a name, WordGirl was bound to give you one, and it fits, you know. If you were to come up with a new one, the city'd probably go for it; everything's pretty lax around here about evil containment. They _did_ try to trap me in that maze that one time, the maze that actually _had_ an exit."

"Well," the half-snake huffed, "I still think it's a ridiculous name."

"Hey, s'not as bad as Captain Huggyface," the former lab-rat scoffed with a slight chuckle at the grimace that crossed over Chase's features.

"True. Has your inner-Jekyll quieted himself, my Hyde?"

Thankfully, Spicer was able to answer, "Yeah, finally," to which the snake dragged him closer and tiredly hissed, "Good, now sleep; tomorrow will be quite busy, lover."

"Yeah," the albino yawned lightly, snuggling up against his cold-blooded lover, "that sounds like a plan..."

**_559. Cloying-_**

Chase found himself scowling down at Wuya as she pleaded to get back in his good graces, her demeanor cloyingly sweet to the point he felt as if he would vomit should he hear much more.

"Chase, please, you know I hold you in the _highest_ respects! I would _never_ do anything against your wishes again-"

"Enough," he growled, hand shooting to his throbbing skull, "just the sound of your voice is giving me a migraine, witch."

"But, Chase!" she pleaded desperately, hands clasped in front of her, "At the very least, you know I have...certain _qualities_ that can be useful to you...What will you do after a battle with the monks without me? When your blood is hot with the fire of combat and you need an outlet for your more... _primal_ urges?"

"Not an issue," the warlord dismissed easily, "for I already _have_ such an outlet; less likely to try and kill me at the first opportunity, far more pleasing to look upon, and frankly, a _much_ better fuck than you've ever been, Wuya."

"What?!" the woman screeched, ignoring the handful of big cats that began to surround her in caution at the high-pitched noise, "And who could _possibly_ be a better fuck than me?!"

Chase was silent for a long, drawn out moment, uninterestedly inspecting his neat, trim fingernails due to their ungloved state. "I've no idea why I hadn't thought to make use of the combination of Spicer's affection for me and his high tolerance for pain before," he mused, "but I must say, I do _not_ regret the decision."

Though the truth hadn't been outright stated, it had been implied _quite_ explicitly, and before Wuya could even give some indignant rant about being shoved aside for a scrawny, little weakling, a loud snap of fingers echoed through the room, and several jungle cats pounced on her, dragging her back out the main doorway.

Chase, however, stood and headed leisurely back towards his bedroom, wanting to see just how his newly-declared lover felt about dragon-style...

**_560. Gradual-_**

Chase sighed, unable to rid the thought of the pale youth from his mind.

Since the unexpected kiss, he'd been haunted by the look he remembered in those blood-red eyes: earnest, sad, tortured, helpless, but above all, _lonely_.

At that moment, it had seemed as if all the loneliness in the world had taken residence in those unnatural, beautiful eyes...

The man hadn't been able to find much information about the boy from asking around; the most anyone knew was his name, and that was from an elderly woman who had dropped an apple in the marketplace on her way to Church and had had it picked up by the hooded boy and given back to her.

All she knew was a name: Jack.

That didn't help, either, for the name was all too common, and no one else had seen his face or even knew where he might have lived in the town. It seemed no one knew anything about the strange youth with skin like snow, and so though he _desperately_ desired to see this Jack, if just _once_ more, the man had nothing to go on.

Chase sighed again, this time more from fatigue than hopelessness; out of the total six bell ringers, two were missing, leaving the usual three to pull the first rope and only him to handle the second. Despite his strength, it was _much_ harder this way.

Raising a hand to his forehead to wipe away a few beads of sweat that had taken residence there, his eyes absently glanced towards the local duke's castle...and he froze as he spotted a figure in a window he'd never noticed before, seeing no color whatsoever, only white.

Knowing he'd been caught sight of, Jack darted away from the window, holding his hand over his chest as his quivering heartbeat gradually slowed to it's normal rate.

Had the man seen him? Would he...would he tell his father and demand retribution for kissing him? He was already in enough trouble as it was: for that little stunt he'd pulled, he'd been whipped for ten solid minutes (which felt like ten solid _hours_ at the time, the internal illusion only exacerbated by the throbbing of his back) and his privileges had been even further restricted, as he now wasn't even allowed to leave his room for dinner and his meals were slid under the door.

Chancing a peek out of the window, he breathed a sigh of relief to see that Chase was no longer looking his way and was talking to his companions instead.

Little did the young duke's son know that the man was speaking to said companions about the occupants of the castle, and when he was told that only the very self-important duke lived there, having had no children with his now-deceased wife, his golden eyes widened.

Well, that couldn't be true; he was _sure_ he had seen that lovely young man looking at him from a window in that very castle, and by his speech when he _had_ spoken to him was eloquent, meaning he'd been educated and was no servant.

With a hard determination, Chase decided that he _would_ be speaking to that boy once more, even if he had to scale that castle's wall just to do so...

--

**A/N:**

**_Calumny- _Continuation of _Brandish_ from Chapter 55; Chase kicked some ass, huh? Well, I suppose that's to be expected with Jack's honor on the line. :) Also, calumny is defined as a misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation, or the act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations maliciously calculated to harm another's reputation. **

**_Network- _Nerd Network is basically my take-off of Geek Squad; Jack has gotten a job as a phone operator there, perhaps to fund his mechanical exploits or for some other reason, and Chase has decided to mess with him a little. XD **

**_Cantankerous- _This is something Matt and I discussed at length over the phone: Jack seems like the type to be _horrendously_ pissy before morning coffee; I myself don't drink it, but I know several people who swear by it and refuse to even talk to me before having some in the morning. Also, I figured it would be too cliché to have Jack load his coffee with artificial sweeteners and cream and the like, so I instead decided to give him a like for black coffee, as it seemed more unique. :D**

**_Aside- _No comment. **

**_Circumlocution- _Continuation of _Tower_ from Chapter 55; I had to give poor Jackie his chance at meeting Chase, even though I cruelly cut it short. Circumlocution is defined as the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea, or evasion in speech. **

**_External- _Jack is always around Chase in his underwear or a towel or something; it's like the writers _want_ us to see this pairing. o.0****  
**

**_Clandestine- _Clandestine is defined as marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy.**

**_Ethics- _Okay, I'm sure a lot of you are totally clueless now, but I have an explanation for this; not necessarily a good one, but I've got one. So, there's this new show on PBS KIDS GO!, and it's called WordGirl. The whole premise of the show is stupid, a bunch of generally not smart people who don't know pretty easy words (stuff like 'frustrated' and 'dazzling') and there's a superhero girl with a monkey sidekick who, in addition to things like super-strength and speed, also has knowledge of every word in the English language, and it's meant to entertain children but occasionally teach them a new word or two. Now, I thought AT FIRST that there was nothing in this show that appealed to me, but honestly, it's amazing, if just for villains like Dr. Two-Brains. He's AWESOME, really, he is, and he honestly reminded me a lot of Jack when I first saw him on the show, and so this formed. Basic explanation of things right now, the real Dr. Two-Brains was originally a scientist named Steven Boxleitner, who accidentally fused his brain with that of a vicious albino mouse he had, Squeaky, and now he's evil and wants to steal all the cheese in the city. I've replaced Doctor Boxleitner with Good Jack (the last name 'Bonham' means 'good man') and Squeaky with the real Jack, but his name is just Spicer for the sake of telling the two apart. There is no Mandusa character, I just made that up for Chase's sake of being in the story, as I couldn't place him as any of the characters in the show; obviously, he didn't choose this name, he honestly quite hates it. But anyways, the only other two cameos I made were Kimiko as WordGirl and Omi as her monkey sidekick, Captain Huggyface (yes, that's actually his name). Really, there's some shorts online that basically give you Dr. Two-Brain's whole story (which aren't in any actual episodes) and the shorts are little more than two minutes long each, so if you should like to take a look at them, they can be found at the following website under 'ADVENTURES OF WORDGIRL' and then by clicking the the picture that says, 'DOCTOR TWO-BRAINS' : h t t p : / / p b s k i d s . o r g / w o r d g i r l / I highly recommend watching a few of them, because I never would have thought it, but Dr. Two-Brains has quickly become one of my favorite characters; if you like Jack Spicer, you'll probably like Two-Brains. :D  
**

**_Cloying- _Cloying is defined as disgusting or distasteful by reason of excess or excessively sweet or sentimental.**

**_Gradual-_ Continuation of _Tower_ from Chapter 55 and _Circumlocution_ from about five words ago; there'll be more, don't worry! I'll _definitely _work another continuation into maybe the next chapter or something to bring some closure to the issue, 'cause it's still _totally_ a cliff-hanger. -.-**

**Anyways, that's Chapter 56 for you, so...thanks for reading! :D**


	57. Chapter 57

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_561. Cohesion-_**

It was when Jack managed to manufacture a robot capable of employing the arcane arts, a perfect cohesion of both magic and science, that Chase realized how _severely_ he'd underestimated the goth's true genius, and he quickly began plotting to make use of the boy who he'd given _clearly_ too little credit.

And here he'd thought the only thing Jack was good for was some mind-blowing sex, talented kissing, and the occasional cuddling!

**_562. Overwhelming-_**

Accidentally forgetting the wounds on his back from the harsh whipping, Jack hissed as he tried to roll over onto his other side, an overwhelming pain flooding his nerves and tearing all thoughts but 'OW' from his head.

Why had his punishment been _so_ severe? He hadn't really caused any harm!

But, then again, life had never been fair to him, he supposed, so why should he expect anything different now? All he could do was suck it up and move on.

The noise of a boot tapping on the floor in the motion of a step met the youth's ears, and he groaned softly in exasperation, figuring he hadn't heard the door open because of his deep thoughts.

Curled up on his side facing away from the door, the sheets of his bed around his waist and leaving his back bare to the cool night air, Jack moaned, "Father, haven't I suffered enough?"

The white-skinned boy jumped at the feeling of long, aristocratic fingers trailing over a whip's lash in the center of his back, _clearly_ not the short, chubby fingers of his father's hand, and a deep, smooth voice noted, "By the looks of it, you certainly have..."

He shot up in bed, holding back a pained noise at the muscles being stretched with his movement, but it was soon forgotten and he gaped openly at the sight of the golden-eyed male that had stolen his heart from afar. "Y-you...?"

He was greeted with a smirk and a step closer, bringing the man now to the edge of the bed as he inquired, "Your name is Jack Spicer, is it not?"

"I-I-I...y-yes..." the young man flushed very darkly, feeling a weird combination of awkward and embarrassed; he'd _kissed_ this man, never expecting to see him again, and here he was, _in his bedroom_, and he didn't even know the man's _name_!

Thankfully, this last issue was quickly resolved as he introduced, "I am Chase Young. Tell me, boy: who has caused such wounds to your body?"

Jack hurriedly slipped on the robe that had fallen off of his body while he had slept, sheepishly concealing himself with the pale cloth. "My father. When he allowed me to attend Church, he made it clear that if I tried something, I would be severely punished; I suppose I should have taken him more seriously, but I...I still have no regret for my actions."

Chase smirked at him again, posing, "So you _don't_ regret your declaration of love?"

If it were possible, Jack flushed darker, but nonetheless nodded firmly.

"That's fortunate," the man decided, surprising the younger male by joining him on the bed, "that's _very_ fortunate, Spicer, because you see..." Chase was abruptly _very_ close, his hot breath ghosting along the albino's cheeks. "I have long desired a partner who shared my interest in the same sex, and of all the men who could have fallen for me, Fate has gifted me with the most unique beauty I have yet to lay eyes on..."

With no warning other than large hands gripping his shoulders (which Jack later realized was meant to keep him from falling back to the bed in surprise and hurting himself), Chase's mouth was suddenly on his, kissing him heatedly as he had never been kissed before...literally. "I doubt you _truly_ love me, young one," the man informed, holding a pale cheek in one palm, "but a crush is a start. I have a feeling we are destined to be anyways. Will you come away with me?"

"Wh...what of my father? He won't allow it."

"Your father is of no consequence." Chase assured, "All I need is your consent, and I can make this..._us_ happen. Do you want to escape your life? Do you want a chance to be free and to love?"

The choice came easily, and Jack decided, "Yes, I want that. I want to try, please!"

"Then we shall try, Jack; I think we will work well together. I doubt your father will relinquish his control over you should you remain anywhere in France, so imagine a much more drastic relocation: _my_ homeland."

"Th-the Far East?" the youth gasped, "But how will _I_ be allowed there? I am not of your kind..."

Chase snorted. "It does not matter; I used to hold some military standing there, and if I claim you as a slave and pull a few strings, your nationality can be easily ignored."

"Well..." the albino thought seriously, glancing up in mild surprise as his slender hands were gathered in Chase's, the man assuring, "You will like it there, Spicer, I know it. China is _very_ beautiful, and if you're anything like _I_ was coming _here_, you will find the cultural and artistic differences fascinating."

Jack smiled brightly and agreed, "Very well, Mr. Young; I shall take you up on your offer!"

Chase, too, smiled, standing from the bed with one hand stretched out in offering. "You will need to hold onto me tightly, then; the only way out of your prison without attracting attention is to scale down the side of the tower."

Jack gratefully took the hand, firmly deciding, "I trust you."

**_563. Congeal-_**

"Why didn't you kill me?"

Chase hazed into consciousness, vaguely annoyed that his fledgling and mate still possessed his human sleeping habits, even after a full month of being one of the Undead. "I wanted you as my own," he groggily answered, hoping to end the unwanted conversation quickly, "there is no other reason."

"But _why_ did you want me? I'm not exactly attractiv-ow! Dammit..." Jack had undoubtedly bit his lip or tongue again, unused to his fairly-new fangs. He soon recovered, however, and finished, "I'm not exactly attractive, so why...?"

Chase sighed, pulling the albino closer by the waist. "You are _very_ alluring to a vampire, Spicer; your skin is white as the moon that we live by, your eyes are red like the blood that sustains us, and your hair is reminiscent of the sunrise, which the majority of us gave up _over_ a century ago. Your body has reached maturity, and yet your face is still young and child-like, giving you the quality of agelessness that our kind was drawn to in the first place. And of course, your neck..." The elder vampire moved on top of his lover, now fully-awake and fairly 'in the mood' from having to explain to his mate how sexy he was, his hand going just under Jack's chin and forcing it up and to the side and nuzzling at the crook of neck and shoulder. "That fine white throat, perfect and elegant, reminiscent of a swan, even. I could barely hold myself back from impaling your slender neck on my fangs long enough to bring you here!"

Jack gasped and whined slightly as he felt a certain part of his lover's anatomy prodding him in the stomach, and he pleaded, "Oh, Chase, I don't want to...I'm not in the mood."

His sire seemed uncaring of this as he began to strip the albino of his clothing, assuring, "You will be soon enough."

"But-"

"No," Chase growled to his fledgling, a wicked glint in his eye, "you wake me in the middle of the day, you will learn the consequences of going against your master's wishes..."

Jack gulped and whimpered, realizing that he'd annoyed his sire at just _too_ inopportune a time, and he was being punished with the removal of the right to choose to mate with his lover.

"Oh, hush, Spicer," the elder soothed, petting a hand through his hair gently, "I won't hurt you _too_ badly; you know I hate the taste of congealed blood, and that's what would happen to yours if it left your body. I suppose that means I'll have to drink it straight from your veins, then..."

Recalling the last occasion Chase had dined on his blood, the sheer ecstasy the sensation had caused, Jack was suddenly a bit more eager to be punished...

**_564. Ludicrous-_**

"Spicer, have you lost your _mind_?" Chase demanded of the teen, "What on earth are you _doing_?!"

Jack signaled to his robots to keep working in his absence and clarified, "I'm building an amusement park, baby; can't you tell by the Ferris wheel?"

The man scowled at him, clearly unamused at the notion of an amusement park, and he growled, "In the middle of your _mansion_? Just after the _murder_ of your parents?"

"Uh-huh," the goth nodded with a smile.

Chase face-palmed. "The authorities are going to think it was _you_ who killed them, you little simpleton!"

"Nah," Jack brushed off, "the guy who did it already confessed, and they've got no evidence to tie it to me. And now that the house is mine, I can finally use it for what I want to: main floor amusement park, second floor cinema/rec-room, and an expanded basement lab."

Chase found he had nothing to say to this ludicrous notion and so kept silent.

"Wanna go make out on the Ferris wheel? 'Cause that's operational right now; if you want to do the Tunnel of Love, it'll be a thirty-minute wait until its done."

In a last ditch attempt to bring out his lover's normalcy, the warlord asked, "Shouldn't you be grieving somewhere over the loss of your parents?"

Jack looked at him blankly. "Yeah, you'd think so, but you'd be wrong."

Chase surrendered. "The Ferris wheel it is, then."

Jack then squee-ed in delight and grabbed his lover by the arm as he (ever the one for pissing off his hoity-toity parents) encouraged, "C'mon, I bet the sight of me making out with a man on a Ferris wheel in the middle of the living room'll have my parents rolling around in their graves!"

**_565. Corroborate-_**

"I swear, I had nothing to do with it! I hardly even _knew_ the guy!"

Chase arched an eyebrow, thus far unconvinced; Jack Spicer was still the prime suspect for this murder. "And is there anyone that can corroborate your alibi, Spicer?"

"Yeah," the goth assured, "my robot, JB-666; he's _always_ with me!"

The officer scoffed. "The one that we have detained in the other room?"

"That's the one!"

"Ha, as if _anything_ it says will ever hold up as evidence! It's a robot, Spicer: it'll say anything you tell it to."

"No, but...he records _everything_ he sees, and when Hannibal got killed, I was at a Tech Convention out of state with one of my friends, Ashley, and there's video evidence of that on his hard drive!"

It was then that Chase became a bit suspicious.

"If you had someone with you at the time of the murder," he challenged, "then why wouldn't you have just said so in the first place?"

"...I...wow, I guess I forgot." Jack sheepishly explained, "I don't like people all that much, so I usually remember my robots and stuff first. Like, I remembered that I added a newer time-keeping function to JB-666 that morning before I remembered that some cheap bastard at the cafe I went to tried to stiff me on the change."

Still somewhat dubious, Chase prompted, "But there's still the matter of why his body was found in _your_ house."

"..." The young man looked deep in thought. "I...don't know, I mean, I can't think of anyone who'd want him dea-..." Red eyes had gone wide with realization all of a sudden, and the police officer demanded, "What is it?"

"Wuya."

"Who?"

"Wuya," Jack repeated, "it had to have been her! She's the vice president of the company I own, and she has a key to my place in the event of important business matters, and Hannibal was _always_ trying to get in on my profits, probably 'cause _his_ company wasn't doing so well. Wuya kept saying stuff like 'he won't be a problem for much longer' and 'don't worry, Jack, I'll take care of him'."

"And you never thought to mention any of this _before_?" Chase growled, to which the young man flinched and apologized, "Sorry, I guess I just never thought...okay, allow me to be the first to admit I _have_ no people-skills; I _should_ have seen it coming, but I didn't, so sorry, alright? I'll help with your investigation as much as I can, if you want...?"

Chase looked the goth up and down appraisingly before stating, "You know this Wuya. She trusts you. If you can help us track her down and convict her, then I'll personally make it worth your while."

Jack giggled a bit. "I'll help you, but how could _you_ make it worth my while? I'm one of the richest men in the _world_! Anything I want, I can get on my own-"

The young man was cut off by a pair of lips on his own, and when the officer pulled away with the smuggest look he had ever seen on a person, he squeaked, "Oh..._that_."

"Yes, Spicer," Chase grinned, "_that_. Do you want that?"

Jack looked the older man over once before easily deciding, "Hell, yeah..."

"So, a bit more added incentive to help our case, then, isn't it?"

"Same answer," he assured, standing from his chair in the interrogation room, "I know some places she'd probably be; let's get started!"

Chase stood as well, laughing, "I _like_ your enthusiasm, Spicer."

**_566. Inhibits-_**

Chase snarled as his body now refused to move, too exhausted by the hours previous in which he had fought vehemently against the bonds inhibiting his movement.

There was nothing he could do now but lay there on the cold, damp floor and pant to catch his breath, much like all of his fellow warriors.

"I don't believe I understand you, sire. Why are you _here_? You should be out assessing suitable brides and husbands, not inspecting the prisoners!"

Chase's ears perked at this conversation, and he continued to listen intently as the voice of a young man answered the first, "I explained this to you many times before, and this will be the last time I do so: this war has gone on long enough, and there seems to be no way to end it. You know well enough that I hold no hatred towards these people, but there is absolutely no chance that even if I can get our nation to stand down, that theirs will not still harbor bad feelings towards us. It is time for me to choose a spouse, and I am making my choice strategic. I have always wanted a strong husband, and where better to find one than in the survivors of group of thirty or so men that withstood an army of a thousand?"

"Sire, it still makes no sense! Why would you marry one of these filthy dogs? I-"

Jack's adviser paused when the prince held out a hand to him to stop, and he watched in horror as the young man knelt at the side of one of the bound prisoners. He had been warned of that one in particular, the leader of the band that had taken the lives of five hundred and eighty-six men before falling in defeat, this one in particular having felled three hundred and twelve of those.

The man was frozen in fear as the youth reached out a pale hand and placed it on one bloodied shoulder. Chase jerked roughly with a derisive snort at the touch, glaring heatedly at the foreign wretch that _dared_ to lay a hand on him.

Jack seemed untroubled by this and moved his hand to the man's chin, looking into burning golden eyes. "My, is he handsome! Was he the general?"

The adviser found himself unable to speak, still, and so only nodded.

Jack turned his attention back to the bound and gagged man glaring daggers at him. _"I understand you must hate me and my country for all that we have done to you and yours, but I wish to make a bargain with you."_

Chase was shocked into silence and a lack of resistance as he realized the young prince was speaking his native tongue.

_"I am willing to give you my hand in marriage, reign of my kingdom, and anything else that you may want provided that you agree to foster peaceful relations between our respective kingdoms. Will you do this, honorable warrior?"_

Taking a moment to think it over, looking the young prince up and down and not finding him unappealing in the least, Chase decided that there were _far_ worse things than what was being offered (namely remaining in this dungeon until rats came to gnaw at his soon-to-be infected wounds), and gave a single nod in response.

Jack smiled at the answer and gently removed the gag from the prisoner's mouth, leaning forward to take his lips in a kiss. _"Thank you,"_ he said. Switching back to his own language, the prince turned to his adviser and authoritatively barked, "I want his wounds cleaned and treated, and he is then to be bathed and properly clothed before being brought to my chambers. Is that clear?"

"B-b-but sire! That notion is positively _insa-_"

"Do it, or it's your head, you mongrel!" The man flinched and scampered off to do as he was told, even as the prince began removing the bonds restraining the warrior and speaking to him conversationally in that strange tongue he had used only moments before.

**_567. Debacle-_**

When a Showdown had somehow turned musical, it had looked like the Heylin side was pretty screwed, none of them being musically-inclined, when in the midst of the debacle, Jack Spicer had saved the day by procuring a lute from nowhere and proving himself a skilled lutanist by playing a beautiful song upon said instrument.

Later, lying in bed with the youth, Chase had questioned, "Where did you learn to play the lute, Spicer?"

"Oh," Jack sighed, "it's a long story; let's check out the flashback!"

(FLASHBACK)

Jack was working in his lab late one night, when all of a sudden...

"EW, A ROACH!"

He raised the wrench in his hand high above the insect, ready to squash it.

"Wait!" the roach cried, standing on its back legs, "Spare my life, and I will teach you to play the lute!"

"Hmm," Jack considered, "okay!"

(END FLASHBACK)

"And then he taught me to play the lute...Huh," Jack said to himself after a moment, "I guess it wasn't as long a story as I thought..."

"..." Chase was undeniably baffled, many questions floating through his head. "How could a roach...and the flashback...?"

Looking over, the man sighed to see the goth already asleep and raised a hand to his temple.

He _hated_ not knowing things by nature, but he supposed that being in the dark half the time was just a part of being in a relationship with Jack Spicer.

**_568. Impress-_**

"I'm impressed, officer; I never thought I'd be caught!" Chase choked slightly as the manicured fingers around his throat tightened their hold. "I could've sworn I'd tied up all my loose ends, but it seems I'd forgotten about that rotten little puke that called himself my boss."

The woman, of course, didn't notice that said 'puke' was no longer unconscious at the other side of the room.

"But that'll soon be remedied; once I off you, I'll rid myself of _him_, and take all of _his_ assets, too!"

Darkness had begun to line Chase's field of vision, but he ceased his apprehension as he felt the loss of his pistol's weight from it's holster, knowing that both of Wuya's hands were around his neck and not the cause of it.

"I'll be the richest woman in the world!"

"Hey, Wuya..."

The woman gasped in shock and turned, seeing Jack Spicer standing in front of her, one hand gripping his injured shoulder and the other holding the standard-issue gun at point-blank range to her skull.

"You're _fired_."

The gunshot tore through the air with a loud bang, ripping straight through the woman's head and out the other side, leaving her body to fall to the floor as Chase did the same, having been released from Wuya's grip, coughing slightly and rubbing his throat.

Jack carelessly dropped the gun, kneeling to the police officer's level. "You okay, Chase?"

"Yes," the man croaked somewhat hoarsely, "I'm fine. Your shoulder looks bad, though."

"I'll be fine," the young man managed to assure through gritted teeth, "you think...you think she's dead?"

"If she's not, it'd be a miracle, Spicer," Chase informed, "it _was_ point-blank range, and you can't really miss with a head-shot."

Jack seemed to take a minute to absorb this before deciding, "She deserved it...bitch."

Chase stood, pulling the still-bleeding youth with him as he did so. "I'm going to call for backup," he informed, removing the radio device from his person, "and an ambulance for you, hopefully _before_ you faint from blood-loss."

"Aw," Jack whined, "but what about my _reward_ for helping you?"

Chase sighed. "You're in no shape for anything of the sort, and this is _not_ the time."

"But-" The goth found himself silenced by the officer's lips on his.

"I didn't say I wouldn't at least kiss you, first," the police officer teased.

And then Jack fainted from blood-loss, leaving Chase to sigh again and then go about calling an ambulance.

**_569. Demagogue-_**

If there was one thing Chase had to admit, it was that he was glad of the choice he'd made.

At first, he'd decided that he would make peace between the warring nations, take several other wives, and only use the young prince for his body and status. But only a few months into their bargain, the former warrior found that he was unable to do so.

Jack alone was like having five or six wives, so excitable was the young man, and besides that...every time the thought to give another the position the pale youth held crossed his mind, Chase felt as if it would be a horrific betrayal.

Jack was nothing like his demagogue of a father; he actually wanted peace, and not only that, but he actively _worked_ for it! He _cared_ about the people that died for the sake of the war and wanted all that to stop.

Of course, physically, he was beautiful and a wonderful lay, but in a turn of events that was entirely new to Chase, his mind was just as sharp as his body, and he was so innocent and sweet and..._perfect_.

It wasn't long until he came to a realization of just _why_ he couldn't callously use the young man.

The revelation came one night as he was lying in bed with his wife, after a particularly rousing session of carnal relations, Jack curled up on his side and fast asleep with his back cuddled up to his husband's chest. It was as Chase allowed his eyes to rest on the smooth, white skin of the prince's back, a calm he'd never before felt resonating through his entire being, he realized just what was wrong with him: he was in _love_.

And therein lie the problem; he _knew_ for a fact that he was too proud to openly admit it. He'd lived his entire life without _once_ admitting affection of any kind, much less affection this deep. But he had to say it aloud, as if to assure himself that it was real.

Of course, he couldn't risk Jack knowing, so he would have to use a language the youth didn't know to be safe. After a long internal debate on whether he should _really_ admit such a thing aloud, make that kind of commitment to himself, Chase nuzzled his lover's throat, laying a hand on the prince's hip as he very softly whispered, "Aishiteru..."

"Hitomebore desu yo."

The man jumped slightly as Jack turned and kissed him gently, pulling away with a tired smirk. "Boku mo aishiteru, Chase-san."

**_570. Anxious-_**

"Would you relax, Spicer? You'll be fine."

"Ugh, I can't!" Jack whined, "I'm just...anxious, okay?"

"Stop worrying, already," Chase demanded of his young lover, "it's your first day on the force, and I'm your partner; we're going to be getting easy stuff today, and even if we don't, I'm right there with you to protect you and teach you the ropes. You'll be just fine."

Jack was comforted by this and straightened his new police officer's uniform before kissing Chase full on the lips. "Yeah, you're right. I might not end up _being_ the finest of the finest, but I've _got_ the finest of the finest to look out for me."

Chase laughed, but, of course, said nothing against this notion. "You don't miss your company at all?"

"Eh," Jack shrugged, "a little, but I retired with _plenty_ of money, and with this job, I actually get the chance to _hurt_ people sometimes, which is _way_ better than sitting in an office all day."

"You really _do_ have no regard for human life, do you, Spicer?"

The young man smirked. "Only yours and mine, baby."

--

**A/N:**

**_Cohesion- _A condition of harmony, working together.  
**

**_Overwhelming- _Continuation of _Tower_ (Chapter 55) and _Circumlocution_ and _Gradual _(Chapter 56); finally, a conclusion to the excessively long saga! :D **

**_Congeal- _Continuation of _Lost_ from WAY BACK in (get this!) Chapter 11! WHOA!! 0o0  
**

**_Ludicrously- _I know some people are probably thinking, "Oh, Jack didn't really know his parents all that well, but he'd still be sad if they died!" No. Not this time, he's not. I mean, I love my grandma (who's in her late eighties right now, I think) but I really don't see her anymore, and if I got the news that she died, I'd be sad and all, but...I'd move on pretty quick, I think. Honestly, I've only seen her, like three times in the past two, three years, and I think if _I_ would react in such a manner under such circumstances, Jack would probably move on easily after not seeing his parents for over that amount of time. Just me, maybe, but...I'm the one writing the story, so it's my call. XD **

**_Corroborate- _I felt like doing a police theme. Go figure. -.- **

**_Inhibits_****_- _I kind of imagine the adviser's voice to be like whoever voices Jaken from InuYasha in the dubbed version. He _really_ sucks. XD****  
**

**_Debacle- _Joke courtesy of Dave the Barbarian; this actually wasn't one of the skits involving Danny Cooksey, but I thought it was funny anyways. XD  
**

**_Impress_****_- _Continuation of _Corroborate._  
**

**_Demagogue- _Continuation of _Inhibits_. Defined as a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power. In addition, 'aishiteru' means 'I love you', 'hitomebore desu yo' means 'it's love at first sight, you know?', and 'boku mo aishiteru, Chase-san' means 'I love you too, Chase.'  
**

**_Anxious_****_- _Continuation of _Corroborate _and_ Impress._**

**And that be Chapter 57. (Also, is it just me, or have all my reviewers just, like stopped? I mean, I know ScathingSarcasm is reading, 'cause she told me this, but everybody else is like, GONE. For the last two chapters, it's been Shadir and FoxyPerv, the latter of which is a new reviewer (hi! :D), and...you know, I don't even know where I'm going with this. I guess I'm just wondering if everybody died, because for a while there, I'd have, like, six reviews a chapter, and now I'm lucky if it's half that. o.0 But, you know, whatever, people are probably just busy; it's the summer, people go places and visit other people. That's cool, I totally get that.)**

**REGARDLESS, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D**


	58. Chapter 58

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**571. Despotism-**_

Chase sneered down at the strange-looking boy who was thrown at his feet, speaking in a harsh tone, "I _demand_ to know why you have murdered my concubine, lowly peasant."

A crookedly dark smile answered him, the look in red eyes obscenely devilish for a youth of his age. "Such despotism, such wicked intent, such..._evil_ I have seen in your rule! It's intoxicating, my lord! I couldn't _help_ but kill that witch, sire, when I saw all that time you wasted on her! She's not worthy of you, and she frittered away your attentions like a fool! I killed her to make you notice _me_, to make you see that _I_ am more worthy of your time than _she_ ever was! Please, my lord," the young man pleaded, "take _me_ in her stead, I _beg_ you! I would adore you to the end of time if you would only allow me the chance!"

Chase felt in a good enough mood to humor the suggestion and considered it.

His former concubine had always been a source for sex and sex alone, and he was only troubled by her death in that he would have to find a new whore. She had never _truly_ appreciated the wickedness of his genius, only deceptively doing so when she wanted something or was trying to usurp his throne.

Besides, Wuya had begun to bore him, anyways.

This youth was of a _new_ kind of beauty than hers. Though there was the same red hair (albeit shorter than he was used to), there was creamy, white skin in place of a dusky tan, ruby-red eyes instead of drab green, and in those eyes, submission, no hint of the aim to overtake his power, only the desire to serve and please him, to be used by his king.

The thought of such a being not only _existing_, but kneeling before him, begging to do his bidding increased the subtle appetite he'd harbored for the young man since seeing him tenfold.

"What is your name, boy?" he rumbled in a low tone, repressing the intensely-stronger craving of his body with as much force of will as he could muster.

"Jack, my king, Jack Spicer..." the albino answered with a gracious bow.

Chase's eyes practically glowed and a smirk turned his lips as he ushered his guards away. "You claim to love your evil king, Spicer?" The youth nodded eagerly, to which the elder's smirk became darker as he uncrossed his legs and leaned a bit further back into his throne, deviously hinting at what he wanted done before commanding, "Prove it."

Jack's smirk at the order was comparable only to Chase's as he stood and approached his evil king, eyes full of admiration and adoration as he assured, "Gladly, my lord..."

**_572. Economic-_**

Chase meditatively inspected the silent teen he had brought home, wondering just what had gotten the poor kid to where he was. Economic issues, foster parent problems, or maybe...disownment?

"Are you hungry, Jack?" he questioned softly, trying not to startle the troubled-looking youth.

The albino didn't even look up, eyes locked on the fireplace in which an inferno roared as he quietly replied, "If you have banana pudding cups around here somewhere, then yes."

Surprisingly enough, he did, and the man nodded to a nearby butler to go retrieve said food item from the kitchen before standing up and joining Jack in front of the fireplace. "I realize you may be uncomfortable with my asking, but...do you have any family that might miss you?"

White knuckles paled even further as his grip on the mug of hot chocolate tightened and Jack scoffed, "Any that would miss me? No; they're the ones who kicked me out in the first place."

Chase wanted to ask why, but from the hate in the youth's voice (and the amount of that hate that was directed at himself), he decided against it; it seemed like a touchy issue best left for another day.

Instead, he settled for offering, "You are welcome to stay with me, then, if you choose."

"Thanks," the homeless boy said blankly, not even bothering to care when a black-clothed arm curled around his shoulders, adding to the warmth already provided by the afghan there.

"Are you going to be alright?"

Jack had done his best to rid his mind of the dark memories from the month or so he had lived on the streets, involved in the drug trade, whoring himself for food, and nearly being lured into _organized_ human-trafficking, but the thoughts would not be so easily banished.

Once one hit rock-bottom, they remembered it forever.

For now, though, he focused on how pleasant it was to have another male body so close to his and not be expected to get on his knees or spread his legs. "Yeah," he answered the question asked of him after a brief silence, leaning into the firm chest of the man who'd taken him in, "I think I'll be okay..."

The only good thing about rock-bottom was that when something new started happening, the only way to go was up.

**_573. Drub-_**

Chase moaned at the intense throbbing of his abdomen, decidedly ruling out trying to move again at the realization of how _painful_ it was to feel ribs shifting with each attempt.

He felt as if he had been drubbed by an entire _army_ and then pulled in four different directions at once by _war-horses_!

This honestly wasn't too far off from the truth: he hadn't been as careful as he should have been in his plot to overthrow the king, and when Hannibal had discovered his adviser's treachery, he had dealt severe punishment, after which the man's battered, bruised, and bloodied body had been tossed into the ocean.

He'd no idea how long he'd floated, or just when he'd come across the bit of driftwood that had _kept_ him afloat and how he'd survived _before_ finding it, but Chase now registered sand beneath his aching form, a humid, tropical air around him.

A young voice suddenly spoke in a tone of concern, and though he couldn't for the life of him understand the words, it prompted him to open his eyes.

A man, juvenile yet, knelt at his side, his looks entirely strange and unusual to Chase.

His hair was stark white, a sort of red-orange coloring at the tips from what looked to be a dye made of berries and somewhat reminiscent of the youth's wide, blood-colored eyes that were filled with worry. The boy's young, nubile body was just as white as his hair, his chest exposed fully and his lower-half only hidden by a sort of loincloth of deerskin or perhaps some other animal of the type, as he had never seen a black deer before. Slender feet were left bare but showed no sign of callouses common to those who walk without covering to their feet.

What struck Chase as particularly odd about the youth, however, was his decorations: there was tribal paint underneath his left eye in a hook, bracelets and anklets of bone, a large, wooden staff with three or four human skulls on it in his hand, and a necklace draped over his shoulders of either many small animals' ribs or large animals' teeth.

Judging by this, the boy _must_ have been a shaman, a witch-doctor, but how could _that_ be? All shamans _he_ had ever read about were supposed to be well-aged, sage-like in both nature _and_ body! How could a boy so young have attained this high position?

Chase gasped and cried out in pain as a white hand pressed against his chest in a location that quite nastily aggravated his broken bones, and the pain only got worse as the youth pressed harder.

Tightly-closed golden eyes shot open, however, as the hurt began to fade, a quiet, lyrical chanting echoing in his ears. The boy's eyes glowed with a mystic light just as his hand did, his skull-staff pulsating with a dark aura as his lips moved with the spell, obviously well-practiced.

In no time, the pain was altogether gone, and the man somehow knew that not a trace of the deep fractures remained.

It was now clear that this youth had become a shaman at so young an age because of his skill.

Trying to sit up and thank the young witch-doctor for healing him, despite the fact that he wasn't quite sure how he would do this with the language barrier between them, he was pushed back to the beach, a gentle smile given to him before a hand touched his forehead and his mind was sent reeling into blackness.

**_574. Stare-_**

"No," Jack sobbed in helpless disbelief, "no, no, no..."

Damn his species, damn his own eyes, and _damn_ his lover!

Was he suicidal? Did he _want_ to die?! What else could have made him look into his gaze?

_"I don't **care** if it kills me, lover; I **must** see your eyes..."_

Those had been Chase's dying words before tearing off the albino's self-imposed blindfold and condemning himself to a death in stone.

How awful a feeling it was for the young medusa! To know that his first glimpse of the man he loved had been the cause of his death!

Oh, but now that he could look upon his lover with no further chance for causing harm, Chase was beautiful! Even made of dark grey stone, he was so handsome and perfect, almost exactly the same as the image he had fabricated of his lover in his mind from only hearing the man's sultry voice and the feel of the perfectly-sculpted body up against his while they made love.

Now it was perfectly-sculpted in an entirely different sense.

A sob choked Jack at the reminder that the only one who'd ever loved him was dead by his gaze, and he wrapped his arms around the man's cold, lifeless body as despair wracked his thin, pale form.

He cried.

He cried for hours, days, months, years, perhaps, he didn't know; all he knew was that it was a very long time before he blessedly ran out of tears.

By the gods, he would _never_ love again so long as he lived! Chase had been the only one, and now they could never be again.

The light of the setting sun glinted upon some object, and looking to the ground, Jack saw a shard of something at his feet, a piece of a mirror one of his much earlier victims had dropped.

Grief saturated the albino's heart and soul, and it was this grief that guided his next actions.

He bent to pick up the shard and, heart thumping loudly in his chest but nerve steeled to his decision, he slowly raised the piece higher and higher, showing him his own lips, his nose, and finally, his eyes.

The sight of the red glow instantly began transfiguring the medusa's own body, and just before he was completely frozen in death, he clung to the statue of his beloved, head to the man's chest as tears streamed down his cheeks.

The rising moon saw the mirror slipping out of a white stone hand and water sliding down cold, pale cheeks as the two lovers faded from the realm of the living while the night enveloped the clearing that their bodies would forever inhabit.

**_575. Violently-_**

The pale-skinned boy groaned as he awoke, a painful throb echoing violently throughout his body. As his senses slowly migrated back to him, after the hurt, the first thing he registered was the soft, comfy warmth of fur blankets protecting his form from the cool air.

What had happened? He couldn't remember where he had been or what he had been doing before waking up in this strange place.

When a vague idea of what might have occurred struck him, he immediately tried to identify his current state. Shifting ever so slightly under the pleasant fluffiness of the blankets and feeling the fur brush against his bare skin, it was apparent that any clothes he was wearing before he'd blacked out had been removed, and though his entire body ached, it was particularly concentrated in his head and rear end.

Slowly raising a hand to the former of areas and making contact with a large lump, he hissed in pain and quickly withdrew his hand.

Well, if that didn't settle it, nothing would: he was married.

That was their custom; a man would find a woman he desired to marry, knock her unconscious, bring her to his home, have his way with her, and that'd be it: marriage.

While this might be considered crude to people today, one must understand that a _language_ hadn't even evolved amongst their people yet, much less ethics and standards, so they really couldn't be expected to go through all the 'proper channels' of courtship today.

Regardless, the pale-skinned boy busied himself in thinking over the situation. So, apparently, a man had found him attractive, meaning his husband was, without question, one of those men who liked other men better than women. While those were rare, they were not unheard of, and no one really cared anyways; whose business was it to care what sex other people found attractive?

Honestly, Jack had been wondering lately if _he_ was one of those men, as he'd never really found females all that appealing and he figured, because of his age, old enough to be sexually-active and young enough to be alluring to a potential mate, he might as well try to determine his sexuality for when he would be married.

Now, though, the decision had been made _for_ him; marriage was a permanent thing.

Well, really, though, that could be seen as another positive! The very fact that it was actually _marriage_ said that there was a deep affection, as, because of its permanence, such a thing wasn't thrown around carelessly and was only proposed with utmost seriousness, so obviously, his new husband felt deeply for him and he would be treated well.

Opening his eyes as the pain in his head lessened, he noted that the furs warming him were of woolly mammoths, and that spared the pale-skinned boy the possibility of a scrawny or weak spouse, which was another good thing, as that meant he'd have someone to protect him from now on, a strong warrior to keep him safe.

The young male jumped at the sound of a thud and looked to the entrance of the cave he resided in to see a freshly-killed saber-tooth tiger laid on the floor (for dinner later, most likely), his heart skipping a beat as he finally identified his new husband: the man with golden eyes, that powerful, nomadic warrior that had recently joined the tribe.

A twinge of hunger tore through the pale-skinned boy at the thought of the man who'd made him question his sexuality in the first place finding him to be a suitable wife, and he nearly pounced upon the approaching male at the recollection that most warriors desired the pleasures of the flesh after a hunt, successful or otherwise.

Oh, if he had only been _awake_ for the first time!

But no, the pale-skinned boy told himself, that had not been the case. The younger of the two men sat up, giving his husband a smoldering 'come hither' look; for missing out on the marital rite sex, he'd have to make the most out of the honeymoon...

**_576. Emollient-_**

"Spicer, come to bed _this_ instant!"

Jack groaned aloud, protesting, "Chase, no, I'm busy!"

Really, he should have been less surprised when his lover threw open the bathroom door and scowled at him, demanding, "And _what_ are you so busy with?"

"My lotions," the goth informed matter-of-factly, "as I am _every_ morning and night."

Golden eyes inspected the counter and he challenged, "_Three_ different brands? Is _that_ necessary?"

"Yes," the younger insisted, "I need an exfoliant, an emollient, and a moisturizer twice daily, _three_ times if I was out in the sun too long that particular day. I have _very_ sensitive skin, and I have to take certain measures to ensure its silky-softness!"

"......You _are_ a woman, aren't you? I should have known."

"Oh, well, what about _you_, Mr. Princess? You spare no expense to keep your lovely locks glossy and tangle-free! That makes _you_ a woman, too!"

Chase smirked. "I heard no complaint from you when you had your fingers in my hair this morning, screaming my name."

Jack smirked right back. "I didn't hear you bitching when you had your hands all over me, practically purring at me about how soft it was."

"..."

"..."

Complete silence on both sides.

"You know what?" the younger of the two abruptly decided, "I'm tired. Why don't we both admit we're ladies and go to bed?"

Chase snorted. "Very well, and may I be the first to admit that I appreciate your soft skin."

"And I like your pretty hair," Jack smiled, "you could seriously do a shampoo commercial."

Chase laughed at this and teased, "Maybe one day I'll let you wash my 'pretty hair'..."

"Well, then maybe one day, I'll let you do my lotion..."

The two stared at each other for a long, suddenly lust-filled moment. They both found these ideas _unbearably_ sexy, Jack enjoying the idea of sharing a bathtub with his lover and gingerly caring for the warlord's pride and joy and Chase entertaining the idea of being able to rub his hands _all over_ his mate's paper-white, sensitive skin (this fantasy made even better by the fact that should the situation heat up, as it most certainly would, there would be lotion readily available).

The following conversation then ensued:

"Chase?"

"Yes, Spicer?"

"We're both 'women', right?"

"That's what we just agreed, yes.

"Let's say that 'one day' means 'now' and go be lesbians with penises."

"A fine suggestion."

_**577. Illness-**_

Panting softly, he rolled over onto his side, coughing raggedly before he was struck by another chill. He was nearly nauseous for a long, drawn-out moment, but the urge to vomit was eventually forced down.

A hand stroked soothingly through his hair before he was pushed to lie on his back again, the investigative hand pressed to his forehead before he was informed, "You're burning up."

He could do little more than grunt at the news, trying to shift away from the admittedly gentle hands, but he was only pushed down more firmly into the soft bedding.

"Don't do that," the voice admonished, "you need to rest."

Though reluctantly, this was acknowledged, and he closed his eyes, not sleeping, but just sort of relaxing.

"Do you need to throw up?"

He shook his head 'no'.

"Are you hungry?"

Another 'no', but this time, it was met with a scoff.

"That's the pneumonia talking; I'll make you some chicken soup in a bit."

A mouth came close to his, and he managed to rasp out, "You'll get sick..."

"No, I won't. I built a sort of germ filter for my throat and nose _years_ ago after I had the flu for three months so I'd _never_ get sick again."

An irritated growl. "And you didn't think to do the same for me?"

Jack smiled apologetically. "Sorry, hon, I didn't even know you could _get_ sick, what with you being a giant immortal lizard and all. I'll whip something up for you when you get better."

The man gave a noncommittal grunt, closing his eyes again and trying to ignore his illness so he could sleep.

"Oh, poor baby..." his lover cooed, petting his hair again, "I still don't know how you caught this, but I'll take care of you." Jack kissed his beloved on the lips, informing, "I'll go make that chicken soup for you; I'll be back soon."

As the door clicked shut moments later, the warlord reduced to a near-invalid moaned and rolled over, praying the pneumonia would clear up soon; he _hated_ being babied like this.

**_578. Expurgate-_**

"Excuse me, Mr. Young?"

Chase looked up from his desk at the teenager who stood in the doorway of his office and coolly asked, "Can I help you?"

"Um, yes," the young man shuffled his feet awkwardly, "I've come to complain about the television program you write for. You see, it sends entirely the wrong message to people, an evil message that corrupts young minds."

"Oh?" the writer prompted, standing from his chair, "_Do_ go on."

"U-uh, well, it tells people that homosexual relationships are acceptable and sometimes normal, when in reality, they are an affront to God."

Chase arched an eyebrow, approaching the teen as he continued his explanation.

"Two men have no right to be together the way a man and a woman do, and for this to be portrayed as though its not only okay, but _right_ if they're 'in love' is just wrong."

The man was quickly closing the distance between himself and the pale youth, and it was starting to become evident that it was making the other nervous through the quivering of his tone.

"S-such relationships a-are a sin, and-and-and..." The boy gulped softly as he found himself pinned to the wall, the writer's hands on either side of his head and a golden gaze fixed seriously on him as he quietly finished, "I demand that these things be expurgated by the next airing..."

"You don't believe a word of that." Chase stated, to which the boy immediately squeaked in admittance, "No..."

"Then why do you preach such ignorance to me if you don't believe it? Who are you?"

The albino sighed helplessly. "My name is Jack Spicer. I...I'm gay. I really _do_ like your show; its amazing. But my mom...she thinks that I _decided_ to be gay after watching it. Everything I just said are _her_ words, not mine, but she swore that if I didn't come down here and get you canceled or at least 'fixed', then she'd kick me out, and I really don't have anywhere to go. I don't know _what_ I'm gonna do now that it didn't work..."

Chase looked the morose boy up and down.

_Hm..._

"Your mother sounds like a spectacular bitch."

"Uh-huh."

"I assume she'd be furious if you were to actually have a boyfriend..."

"Oh, no question!"

Frowning as his hint was overlooked, the man more obviously indicated, "_Especially_ if that boyfriend was the very writer she believes to have 'turned you gay'..."

"What?!" Jack gasped, "Are you..._hitting_ on me?"

Chase smirked. "Why not? It's a hobby of mine to aggravate bigots, and your mother sounds like the Queen of _All_ Bigots. Don't tell me you weren't thinking of the possibility of us, either; I can see the crush in your eyes."

Jack blushed, telling Chase that he had been right in guessing that the boy liked him that way, at least enough to consider a relationship.

"Besides," he lowered his voice seductively, leaning a bit closer to the albino pinned beneath him and delighting in the way the shy blush darkened on white cheeks, "you're cute and I'm single..."

"W-well, I don't kno-"

"It'll give you a place to stay, you can get back at your mother for wanting to change who you are, and you'd be able to boast of a sexy boyfriend."

"Okay," Jack easily agreed, eyes alight with what was probably excitement at being able to freely express his sexuality (probably the same reason he had stopped being shy) as he demanded, "kiss me, you 'sinful' stud!"

Chuckling at the youth's eagerness, Chase did so.

**_579. Openly-_**

"Ooh, Chase, I cannot _believe_ you! You said it was over! You said you didn't care about Omi anymore, and then I catch you staring at him again?! How _could_ you?!"

The man huffed, defending, "I find his strength and skill in martial arts interesting; perhaps if you'd take it upon yourself to stop being so openly _gay_ and perhaps be a _man_ for once, I might not _want_ to look elsewhere for eye-candy!"

And with that, the warlord stormed away, leaving Jack alone in the room.

Of course, none of these things had been meant, only said in anger, but the goth took them to heart, and they _hurt_. Oh, but he would not cry or fall into depression, would not even try to leave Chase or cheat on him; no, he would show him just _why_ such things should not be said to him if they were untrue. His plan was already ranging on borderline-_torture_ in only the embryonic stage!

Chase wanted 'openly gay'? Jack would _give_ him 'openly gay'...

It had been weeks since the fight over the short, yellow monk, and after the first week of stagnant, suffocating silence and icy-cold interactions, Chase had begun to try and make amends for the altercation.

He had outright _pampered_ his lover with all sorts of luxuries and gifts, offering numerous apologies and admissions of how wrong he had been, and yet Jack still refused to speak to him.

That had been two weeks ago, and still nothing. Chase himself was rather troubled at this, and he was very nearly at the point where he was considering begging on hands and knees.

"Oh, cheese and crackers, is it hot!" a voice lisped from the other side of the room, and upon looking over, the warlord's jaw dropped at the sight he saw.

Jack stood in the doorway, having just come in from the summer-heat in...very _provocative_ clothing. The goth wore nothing save for a black and sleeveless fishnet top and a black pair of short-shorts that had been cut off even further and were skin-tight. The youth's pale skin sparkled with a faint sheen of sweat, a dark blush on his white cheeks from the heat and...oh, lord, a cherry Popsicle in one hand as he fanned himself with the other, his breath coming out in a dramatic whoosh.

"Jeez, its a super-good thing I have this Popsicle to cool me off..." And then, to Chase's both delight and dismay, the goth inserted said Popsicle into his mouth. The young man's lips wrapped around the cherry treat as if his life depended on it, sucking suggestively on the thing and bobbing it in and out of his mouth, even going so far as to moan erotically around it.

It was all Chase could do to keep himself from salivating.

Though enjoying the effect his show was having on his lover, Jack soon knew the time had come for his grand finale, the one he had been busy practicing for three weeks. No man had before seen such a thing as Chase was now seeing, and it was an action guaranteed to give anything with a penis, straight or gay, human or not, a _raging_ erection.

The young albino delved the cherry Popsicle so deeply into his throat that for a moment his fingers before the knuckles were completely obscured...and he then proceeded to pull the stick of the Popsicle out clean.

Exhaling a shaky breath with eyes as wide as dinner plates, Chase could do no more at the moment than go completely limp in his throne (well...not _completely_ limp), weakly and helplessly murmuring, "O-oh, dear gods..."

It only got _worse_ when the wooden stick 'slipped' out of Jack's hand. "Oops," he cooed seductively, "it's _so_ rude to litter..."

With that, he turned his back to the warlord, bending over completely at the waist in a way that splendidly showcased the cute, white rump Chase loved, and even _half_ a glance would show _obviously_ that Jack was not wearing _any_ underwear, not even a thong, so tight were those shorter-than-short shorts.

The man was immediately behind the boy, hands gripping his hips. The goth straightened, even as Chase moaned in his ear, "Oh, love, please! I cannot take this teasing any longer...I _need_ you..."

Jack allowed Chase to kiss and bite and suckle at his neck, but the very second a hand dropped to the button of his shorts, he tore himself away. "No," he whined in his affected lisp, "we can't!"

The warlord's mind was so fuzzed by lust and desire from the youth's little show that he couldn't form any sort of vocal emission but, "Huh?"

The goth moved a little toward the door, putting a finger to his lower lip innocently. "Sorry, sweetie, but you want a _real_ man, don't you?" Something truly _evil_ lit up in red eyes, and the albino's lips twisted into a malicious grin as he left the room, hips swaying teasingly as he went.

Chase...was stunned, plain and simple.

He wanted to follow his lover and _demand_ relief for such a purposeful seduction, but...deep down he knew that this was his punishment for hurting his beloved's feelings, and any attempt to go after him now would only lead to more scorn and perhaps more torture, and the man didn't know if he could stand another three weeks without his Jack, _or_ another repeat performance of today.

He would have to take his punishment in stride, and only then would the young genius officially take him back.

Of course, he _had_ learned his lesson, and would _never_ even remotely _hint_ at finding another attractive in _any_ way that would offend his lover's sensibilities again.

But, for now, what the man really needed was a room in which to masturbate.

**_580. Firebrand-_**

"Spicer, I am...concerned for you."

"What?" Jack questioned, giving a brief glance to the hands placed seriously on his shoulders, "Why?"

Chase sighed. "Surely you've noticed the strengthening of the Xiaolin? It makes me worry for your safety. Here is your ultimatum: either you cease to challenge them, or you learn to defend yourself."

"Stop fighting the monks?!" the goth all but shrieked, "But-but-but, what else am I supposed to do when I'm bored?!"

"Then you shall learn self-defense," the man decided, "I have come up with a few styles suited to you that I would like you to try-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jack held his hands up in the 'stop' gesture. "I don't need to learn anything."

"Don't make this difficult, Spicer," Chase growled, "I-"

"No, I mean I don't need to learn anything because I already _can_ defend myself." The albino was met with a disbelieving stare. "I'll have you know," the youth huffed indignantly, "that I am a _master_ at fencing."

"Oh, really?" the warlord questioned, clearly unconvinced.

"Really," Jack insisted, snatching a sword from the wall and pointing it threateningly at his lover, speaking in an 'old english' accent, "have at you, firebrand!"

Chase smirked at him and grabbed his own sword, playfully copying the accent and challenging, "To the death, sir!"

The battle was, as expected, short-lived, and the victor ended up atop his lover, the cold steel of his sword at the loser's throat as he mockingly questioned, "To the death?"

Chase stared wide-eyed up at the albino, shocked; Jack Spicer had just whupped his ass.

"Okay," he slowly conceded, "maybe you _aren't_ as helpless as I thought."

"You're damn right I'm not," he scoffed, standing, "I could totally kick those monks' asses!"

The warlord stood, too, grinning at the realization of something. "If that's so, then why have you never before challenged them to a sword-fight in a Showdown, at which you'd surely win?"

At the goth's surprised expression, clearly never having thought of this, the man chuckled and ruffled a hand through his lover's hair, teasing, "Remind me to get you some common sense for your next birthday, rabbit," before casually walking off, leaving Jack to stand frozen in the den, sword still in hand.

--

**A/N:**

**_Despotism- _I just want to make it clear right now that I HATE Chase/Wuya with a passion, 'cause really, where's the love? Nowhere, that's where. HOWEVER, I do use it in my stories often because of this reason: a whole bunch of people argue that its canon and better because its heterosexual and all, so what I like to do is establish that, yes, at one point, that may have been going on, but because they don't _work _it did not _continue _going on, and Chase/Jack is the successor. The _successful_ successor, may I add, because they _work_. Love is conceivable, because Jack's a total fanboy and Chase is in denial. With him and Wuya, however, it's more like...well, I don't really know what it's like but I can't even imagine how they could ever work on a deeper level than, and this is the polite term, 'fuck-buddies.' XD (DEFINITION: a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power****)  
**

**_Economic- _Continuation of _Unsuitable_ from Chapter 30; what sucked about this one was I finished typing it up from my notebook, and then when I went to save it, the thing was like, 'oh, you have to login to access this page' and I had to log back in, and the whole thing was gone, so I had to type it up again. :inset angry face here: Curse you, Fanfiction, and your tendency of thinking I logged out at inconvenient times! **

**_Drub- _This was all actually done because of a comment Matt made to me. He said one day, "Psh, you've made Jack _everything_! He was Iron Man, he was a goose, he was a dog, he was a cat, he was rabbit, he was a librarian; the only thing you _haven't_ done is make him a witch-doctor!" And I was like, "Oh, yeah? :3 " I had to prove him wrong, of course, so now Jack has been a witch-doctor. XD (DEFINITION: to beat severely****)  
**

**_Stare- _Sort of inspired by a Petshop of Horrors episode/story, in which an actor who bought a medusa from a mystical pet-dealer in Chinatown (Count D, and all this is just a summary for those who don't know about the manga and/or four episodes of the anime) and falls in love with her, and then he has some hard times financially because he can't get a job, and rather than have to give up all his reptiles including the medusa, he looks into her eyes and kills himself, and then she, from grief, picks up a mirror and looks into her own eyes and does the same. Mine's not _exactly_ the same as that, but the general concept is, and so I feel the credit is due. Of course, it's not set in modern times; I was thinking more the time of the _actual_ Medusa when I was writing it, but...whatever, really. **

**_Violently- _It was coming sooner or later: caveman chack, only without the low intelligence and sloping foreheads, 'cause that's not sexy. XD I was careful not to actually _name_ Chase and Jack, because if their society is primitive enough to not have a language, the odds that there would be names is...phew, it's _out there_. But it should be obvious enough as to who's who. Also, I'm not totally sure if saber-tooth tigers and woolly mammoths existed during the same time period, much less alongside man, but...I didn't really look that hard. All I really had to go on, though, was Ice Age, because the Wikipedia entry got confusing when I looked up saber-tooth tigers (which is weird, because it outright stated how long ago woolly mammoths existed, but then got dodgy with the tigers) but Ice Age says woolly mammoths and saber-tooth tigers and humans together are A-OK! XD **

**_Emollient- _Yay! Lesbians with penises! lol, wut? XD (DEFINITION: something that soothes, especially the skin****)****  
**

**_Illness- _Ha, bet'cha thought it was _Jack_ that was sick! But, no, I do that to him too often, so then I figured nobody's ever done a pneumonia-ridden Chase before, so I was like, "I WILL BE THE FIRST ONE EVAR!" And now I have. :D  
**

**_Expurgate-_ I don't know, I guess I just wanted to get some hate out for anti-gay people by making an argument in their favor. But really, adults are all about teaching children that, and this is actually something I've heard people say, "It doesn't matter about how different someone is from you, we're all part of the human race", but then two men or two women want to love each other, and they're like, "NO! WE MUST HATE THEM FOR BEING DIFFERENT THAN US AND GOING AGAINST THE BIBLE!!" Agh, people make no sense. Ever. I'm a Christian, too, admittedly one who hasn't been to church since my conformation, but a Christian nonetheless, who _believes in God_. But the Bible was written by _people_ and was translated into English by _people_ and people not only make mistakes, but they can be influenced to do some very evil things because of what they don't like. I don't think God hates gay people. He's supposed to love everybody, and these rabid anti-gay people are saying he can forgive the most heinous and horrible of criminals and rapists and murderers, but he can't forgive someone who loves a member of the same sex. I find this an incredible, unbelievable, and ridiculous notion to entertain. But, I'm ranting, so I digress. (DEFINITION: to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous****)****  
**

**_Openly- _Shit, three weeks; Jack holds a _grudge_, doesn't he? XD I really liked writing that scene. It was _unbearably_ fun, 'cause I knew what was coming at the end, but the whole way I felt bad for Chase, like, "Oh, damn, he doesn't even _know_!" But it _learned _him a thing or two, didn't it? Jack does _not_ fuck around in teaching his man-bitch a lesson, and that lesson is: EYES ON ME, DAMMIT! XD  
**

**_Firebrand- _Jack Spicer with common sense is the most dangerous thing in the whole fucking world. I mean, I think the only reason he loses all the time is 'cause he does stuff that people with common sense wouldn't do, and if he had it, he would be the most efficient and dangerous villain in the world, _perhaps_ even more so than Chase Young. Notice I use the word 'perhaps' as I'm not making a commitment to this, like for sure, he'd be better, but there's that definite chance of 'as good as if not better' in this prospect. But all that's personal opinion! ;) Also, Jack knows how to fence because fencing seems like a rich-kid activity to me; not _just _for rich kids, but I think its something Jack's mom would make him do. Then again, what _doesn't_ she make him do? XD (DEFINITION: one that creates unrest or strife****)  
**

**But...yeah, that's the long-awaited Chapter 58, and I shall now explain why it was long awaited. I, like, twisted my neck around to look at something too fast or did _something_ to it, and I lost 1/4 of neck motion without there being pain. Like for three days, I couldn't...okay, how to explain this...? Well, if you tip your head directly backwards, straighten it and then tilt it to the left, I could not roll my neck between the two points without excruciating pain, or even turn my head too far to the left. So my excuse for the lateness of this chapter is being stupid and injuring myself somehow. It has cleared up now, and no longer hurts, so all is well with me again, although I'm definitely gun-shy of looking at anything too far to the left of me in any kind of a hurry. XD**

**Thank you for reading Chapter 58 and I hope you enjoyed it! :D (Also, this is, again, the longest chapter so far)**


	59. Chapter 59

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**581. Flippancy-**_

Chase easily caught his nemesis, his strong, black-gloved hand gripping hard on the slender, red-clothed shoulder: for all of his genius, the youth wasn't quite fast enough to escape him.

Regardless of this, Chase spun the young man around to face him, slamming him hard against the wall. Jack, of course, laughed at this with a flippancy entirely unsuited to the situation, cackling even harder as his red-and-yellow spiraled tie was yanked from his suit-jacket and away from the contrast of his black dress shirt, then used to choke him.

"How is it," he rasped between his own mirth and the pressure on his airway, "that you always manage to find me? Have you been keeping tabs on me?" he crooned mockingly.

"Actually, yes," Chase informed him, plucking a small device from beneath the albino's lapel, "with this tracker. I want answers, and you're going to give them to me."

Jack smiled his crooked smile, drawing attention to the painted/scarred one and the trademarked black hook under his eye with the action. "Oh," he cooed defiantly, "I'll never tell..."

The older man drew back his fist before cracking it across the younger's face and deriving another burst of laughter from him.

"That was a good one," he complimented cheerfully, bringing a hand to his cheek, "you nearly snapped my jaw, I bet!"

Chase scowled, demanding, "Tell me what you're up to _now_!"

"Mmm, how about no?" Jack returned, glancing at his wrist to make it seem like he was wearing a watch, "Can you move this along? I'm a little busy tonight."

The man growled at this, exerting more pressure on the unstable youth. "Tell. Me. _NOW_!"

And there was the infuriating laughter again, Chase too distracted by the venomous hatred in his veins to notice the albino activating a locater on his sleeve cleverly disguised as a cuff link. "You really think you can threaten me with violence? _Me?_ I _like_ it rough! Really, now, I know you're not _unintelligent_..."

Ire rising at the fact that he was not being taken at _all_ seriously, Chase opened his mouth to snarl some intimidating comment or other...only to promptly forget it when Jack took his lips with his own, tongue stroking along the man's in what seemed to be affection. Surprised by this, the elder's grip on the young man all but fell away, and the minute it did, he was shoved harshly away by white hands, the tires of a van screeching suddenly through the alley.

The vehicle barely stopped long enough for the one who'd called for it to hop onto the bumper, hanging off of the van by the handles of the doors in the back. As his lackeys began driving away again, Jack grinned insanely at his enemy, flat on his ass in the alley-way with red smeared on his lips from the kiss and too shocked to move.

Before he was out of sight and hearing range, he winked suggestively at the man, blowing a kiss as he taunted, "Hate to smooch and run, sweetheart, but you know how it is!"

When Chase came back to his senses, it was too late to go after the criminal, and he now had no way to track the psychotic youth with the device removed.

Angrily, he wiped the red make-up from his lips, standing and storming off into the blackness of the night to plan his next move.

For now, though, it seemed as if the infamous Joker had tricked his way out of Batman's clutches once again, only this time leaving behind a severely..._confused_ caped crusader in the process.

**_582. Heroes-_**

Having once again caught up with Jack, unfortunately too late to _prevent_ his mischief but still in time to soothe the chaos before it got too bad, Chase squeezed hard on the snow-white wrists in pressing them against the door to the roof of the building they were currently atop, forcing them to release both remotes.

Ever the unstable mortal incarnation of the fae-creature Puck but with an infinitely more morbid spin, Jack had managed to seal off two buildings, an orphanage and a nunnery, and given the call to the mayor with simple instructions: one of the buildings would be blown sky-high by the end of the day, and he would be the one to make the choice as to which of the two it was. Any attempt by police to remedy the situation would ensure both buildings destroyed and a recorded copy of the phone call handed over to the media, blatantly leaving liability with the mayor for condemning both with indecision.

To quote the albino's words over the phone, "That's not something an up-and-coming politician like you wants the press-vultures to get their claws into, now is it? Oh, and by the way, if you take too long to decide, I might just get bored and blow up the nuns _and_ the children for shits and giggles!"

Now that the remotes to each respective building's charges were out of dangerous hands, the bomb-squad would be moving in to disarm the explosives and evacuate the hostages at the first sign that it was clear. All Chase had to do now was to properly incapacitate the young man, knock him out, tie him up, _anything_, but...he couldn't.

Rain pouring furiously from the heavens, smearing black eyeliner and washing away red make-up, revealing the actual scars underneath, ruby eyes wide with shock and chest heaving from the effort of his struggle, Jack looked...well, it was indescribable by words, and Chase could do no more than hold him down and stare.

All of a sudden, it made _sense_ why that kiss the other day had affected him so much, why their struggle would be eternal, and what it was he was trying to do.

The man released his foe's hands, staring at the albino as he softly questioned, "I'll never tame you, will I?"

Jack smirked; so he finally got what this whole thing was about... "Nope," he answered, bringing his hands up to either side of Chase's head, laying them there but doing nothing else, "I meant it when i said we'd do this forever; we'll _always_ roam these streets under the guise of hero and villain, justice and injustice," he chuckled here, his mouth moving closer to the man's and eyelids falling to half-mast as he finished jokingly, "the wild, young colt and the stubborn rancher always trying to ride his ass..."

Even Chase gave a small laugh at the innuendo, and, fully-knowing what this thing between the two of them was, he leaned in to kiss the insane youth fiercely and with as much heat as he could muster, his strong hands closing tightly on the slim hips of his nemesis and a feeling of completeness washing over him as arms slithered around his neck, giving Jack enough leverage to kiss back with equal fervor.

After a long moment, the two pulled away, doing nothing more than looking at each other.

"Your eyes," the albino spoke quietly, "I knew the first minute I saw you that I'd never forget those golden eyes. Such a pretty shade they are...you know what else is pretty?"

"What?" Chase inquired, to which Jack's face lost any tone of softness it'd had, a sadistic gleam in his eye as he pulled a hidden remote from his sleeve, pressing a button with the simple answer of, "This."

A fiery inferno burst through the night air from a few buildings over, filling the sky with all different shades of reds and yellows and oranges, and Chase's eyes went wide upon realizing that the nunnery and the orphanage were nowhere _near_ here.

"What the hell did you-"

"Oh," Jack cooed, using two fingers to walk teasingly up the hero's chest, "did I forget to mention the charges at the mayor's penthouse? Ah, damn it all! I knew I forgot _something_..."

Chase was still for a long moment, not wanting to leave this complete feeling behind for a city that half-hated him anyways.

"Now don't get sentimental on me, Batty," the albino admonished with a slight frown, "you know we can't be, not that way. In another life, _maybe_, but this one's an impossibility, and you and I both know that. Right now, you've got nuns and children with dead or didn't-love-them parents to save, and I've got a dramatic exit to make, if you'll recall."

"No," Chase decided, "no dramatic exit." He moved Jack aside slightly and opened the door back into the building, the door that would lead the younger man to freedom and simply held it open for him expectantly.

Naturally, he who called himself the Joker was a little hesitant. "...seriously?"

Chase nodded.

"No tricks?"

The man grinned at the irony of who was asking such questions of whom, but assured, "No tricks."

Jack smiled, then, not a smirk, but a real _smile_ as he softly spoke, "Thanks, sweetheart; I owe you one."

"No you don't," Chase smirked, "because next time, all bets are off."

The younger man laughed at this and nodded, turning to leave as he agreed, "All bets are off."

But Chase wasn't quite done with him yet.

He caught the albino by the arm, whirling him around for one more kiss before breaking away and asking teasingly, "You need a ride to wherever you're going?"

"Naw," Jack assured with his trademark grin, "I've got people; now stop being such a puss and get out of here, already. Gotham needs their Dark Knight." And with that, he was gone down the stairs, leaving Chase alone on the rooftop in the rain.

It hurt to know that he could never have his foe the way he wanted, that because of fate and circumstance, the very concept of 'them' was an impossible notion, but it wasn't _all_ bad.

As, over by the remains of the mayor's charred penthouse, the Joker was already opening fire on the cops that had shown on the scene and Batman dove from the roof, using his cape to glide down to the streets and his Batcycle, the motor revving as he sped off to bring his city justice, both of them knew that they would always, _always_ have this, their little game.

_**583. Urgently-**_

Moaning softly as he awoke, Jack was reluctant to open his eyes due to the pounding of his skull. It was a weird feeling, unlike every other headache he'd had in his whole life. His brain felt as if it'd been stuffed full of thoughts and ideas that were too condensed for comfort, and not a single one of them was actually his; there were even _memories_ he didn't recognize!

What happened? What was going on?

"I know you're awake, Spicer," a smooth voice interrupted his musings, but before he could attempt to open his eyes and focus his gaze on the speaker, he was stopped by a hand over his eyes and was chastised, "and keep your eyes shut; I imagine it will help with the pain in your head."

"Nnh, Chase?" he groggily identified the dragon, "How...how'd you know my head hurt?"

His ears were met with a rough sigh, and his question was answered with another question, "How much do you recall before waking up just now?"

The answer came easily.

"Not really anything. Just you."

The dragon sighed again. "That's to be expected, though it does make this more difficult for me. Allow me to explain: you are the son of a wealthy duke and duchess, sickly since birth. They hired skilled dragon-slayers years ago to capture me while I slept and then bound me to you as a guardian, to keep you company and protect you from harm. I can't say I was happy about it, and for awhile, neither were you, but in time, we grew on each other. I'm not quite sure when, but it started to become...more than simple companionship, and soon after, you confessed that-"

"That I'd fallen in love with you," Jack finished, "I remember that part; you haven't said it yet because you aren't sure how you feel yet."

"Yes," the dragon confirmed, but quickly moving on at the somewhat dejected tone, "but a few days ago, you fell ill, moreso than usual. You were quite literally on the edge of life and death, and if I hadn't acted as I did, you would not have survived."

Slowly, Jack questioned, "What ...what did you do?"

"I bound us further," Chase solemnly answered, "as mates. Your condition needed urgent attention, attention that I've no knowledge of, as I have spent my whole life _destroying_ humans, never trying to save their lives. I allowed you half of my heart, my strength to purify your weakness, and we are bound as one for eternity. I truly _did_ wish to ask your permission before doing something so permanent, but as I said, the situation was urgent. It was either you died at sixteen years, or you lived forever with me, and I've never known you to be one to lie down and die so easily, despite your sickness."

For a while, Jack did not reply to this, but after a long moment, he raised a hand to his chest, asking, "Is that why my heart doesn't ache anymore? And why I have all these unfamiliar memories?"

"Yes," his guardian assured, "my blood has driven off all of your human weakness; illness, mortality, old age, all things of the past for you, now, and those unfamiliar memories are mine, just as I have been given yours. My memories hurt you at the moment because your brain has yet to adjust from its human state, which is only equipped to handle about forty or fifty years of memories, hence the headache. As your mind becomes accustomed to it, the pain will fade and the memories of _your_ life should fall back into focus."

"Oh," Jack spoke in recognition of this, "so, because we're, uh..."

"Lifemates." the dragon filled the blank for him.

"So, because we're lifemates, I'm not sick anymore? I can't die?"

"Oh, you can die, Spicer," Chase amended, "but the conditions must be specific. For example, if you were gravely injured, stabbed, burned, drowned, really any manner of death, your heart would momentarily stop and you would 'die', but because your heart is tied to mine, it would quickly begin beating again, and any wounds you had would heal. If _I_ were to be killed, however, you would die with me, because though our hearts are technically one and we share each other's pain, in mine beats the lifesource; if I die, you die."

"Oh..." the younger sighed quietly before hesitantly apologizing, "I'm sorry I took away your chance to find mate that you actually...you know...love; I mean, I doubt the 'lifemate' thing allows for much freedom as far as choosing another partner goes..."

"On the contrary," Chase declared, removing his hand from the human's eyes, "I believe I couldn't have made a better choice."

Jack managed to open his eyes as he was pulled into a sitting position against the fairly-cool body of his lover and, now, mate; though the light of the morning caused a slight pain to him, Chase had been right, and the thoughts in his head had begun to settle.

"You see," came the explanation, golden eyes focused on the youth's red ones, "its often true that one has no real concept of how much something means to them until faced with the prospect of losing it. For those days when you fluttered between life and death, I was forced to realize how deeply I value you, my little human, and because of that, I can finally tell you the words you've been longing to hear: I love you."

For a moment, Jack felt as if he couldn't breathe, but he quickly recovered and then tried his damnedest to crush the dragon with a hug. "I love you, too, Chase; I promise you won't regret saving my life. I'll _always_ do my best to make you happy."

A soft chuckle rumbled through the elder's chest, and he lay a hand on his mate's back, burying his nose in soft, white hair. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," he assured, "you already do."

**_584. Frolicsome-_**

"On a bright, sunshiny day in the beautiful Frolicsome Fields, the bees were buzzing happily, and the flowers sang their...Dinky...Wuffle...Song...who wrote this?!" Chase demanded, glaring at the script.

He was unsurprised to see his boss' shoulders shaking with laughter, and growled quiet curses under his breath; working under someone younger than you was _never_ a walk in the park.

"Sorry, Chase," Jack apologized, still giggling, but trying to suppress it, "it was too funny; try this one."

The man frowned, but took the script anyways, trying to resume the recording session. "Once upon a time, there was this guy. He did some stuff and fell in love with this girl, and they had kids. Then they died. The end."

Of course, this had been a gag-script as well, and Jack was once more laughing his figurative ass off while Chase's fingers twitched with the urge to strangle.

"Mr. Spicer," he growled, "I was under the impression that you were paying me to narrate your cartoon, not to be the fall-guy for your little jokes."

"You're right, you're right," the gothy young man sighed, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't mess with you so much. _Here's_ the script."

The man took it, anger beginning to ebb...that is, of course, until he actually started reading. "The grandmother's tractor was made of cheese, and the waffles were sold at low, low prices-...for gods' sakes, will you just give me the real script, already?!"

Jack snickered and smirked at him, curling an arm around the man's shoulders. "On one condition..."

"And _what_ might _that_ be?" Oh, if this job didn't promise to pay so well, Chase would be g-o-n-e, _gone_ by now!

"Let's be frank," his boss began, "I dig you, and besides your sexy voice, that's part of the reason you got this job. _But_, if you want to actually do that job, you have to go out with me. Nothing big or fancy, like, let's say just going for coffee at that Starbucks down the street after work. Otherwise, though, I've got enough fake scripts to last a lifetime."

Chase looked his boss up and down quickly, weighing how badly he needed this job against how awful a date with Jack Spicer would be; the scales came up in favor of keeping this job, but even without the counterweight, the side measuring the date was fairly light. "I just have to go out for coffee with you?" he stipulated.

"Mmhmm," the young man confirmed.

"...Fine."

"Excellent," Jack smiled, finally handing over the real deal, "soon as we get done recording, we can walk over together. You know," the young man joked, pressing a quick kiss to his narrator's cheek, "I hear they've got great cheese-tractors over at that Starbucks."

Chase sighed softly as the younger man walked off, running a hand through his hair; well, he'd always _wanted_ to try someone with a sense of humor...

**_585. Exams-_**

"Ah, there you are, Mr. Spicer, please come in."

The young man looked rather uneasy as he approached, taking the seat in front of the teacher's desk. "Um, Mr. Young...am I in trouble?"

"That depends," Chase replied somewhat cryptically, "would you mind explaining why you managed to score a 100% on the exam I gave that was deliberately three grades higher than yours?"

"I did? Sweet!" Jack crowed, only to sober at the stern expression his teacher was giving him. "Oh...um, sorry. I don't know, I guess I'm just...smarter than the average student?"

"Hm," the man considered the flimsy excuse with a frown, giving his glasses a minute adjustment, "then I suppose you wouldn't mind retaking it right now?"

"Uh, no," the goth said, "I guess...not...do you have a calculator on you?"

Without speaking, Chase handed a copy of the test, a calculator, and a pencil to the youth, which were taken obediently. A few minutes into his work, the goth looked a bit puzzled, but nonetheless continued, soon handing the test over to his teacher, finished.

"That was quick," the man commented, briefly flipping through the test, only checking to see that all the problems had been completed, "you had no trouble with this?"

"No..." Jack replied, voicing the source of his earlier confusion, "it was, like, the same questions..." He had figured it would be at least a _little_ different!

"Yes, it _was_ the same questions; would it trouble you to mention that they were not in the same order?"

"No, wh-...wait, you think I memorized, like, the answer key or something?"

"Did you?" Chase demanded, eyebrow raised. Surely, this student could not have aced the exam _without_ cheating; he had never seemed like something special in class, if anything _below_ average rather than above: anti-social, short attention-span, a habit of staring out the window in class.

He had pegged Jack Spicer as an F-student, D at best.

"No, I didn't!" the goth insisted, looking quite offended, "I have been bored out of my goddamn mind in classes for _years_ 'cause I'm...ahead of the curve, and its bad enough I'm still stuck in high school, but I will _not_ be accused of cheating, or at least not such a dumb method of it!"

A bit startled by the fire in his student's red eyes, Chase decided to take a more in-depth look at the test, finding calculations and notes scribbled around the multiple-choice questions that clearly demonstrated a high understanding of the college-level material, and slowly spoke, "I...apologize, Spicer, but you cannot fault me for suspecting foul-play; to have a perfect score on such advanced mathematics at your age...well, its nothing short of genius."

If the man hadn't been wearing his glasses, he might've missed the near-invisible tint of pink on the high school senior's cheeks at his statement.

"Yeah, well...you're not the first teacher to say that..."

"Really?" Chase questioned, "And not one has ever tried to advance you a grade or two?"

"Oh, they've tried plenty; its my parents that are the problem. They think if I get skipped, it'll be too hard to make friends. Apparently, they haven't noticed that I hate people and don't have any friends, anyway."

Chase remained quiet for a moment, inspecting the young man before him. In good conscience, _especially_ as a teacher, he couldn't allow such a brilliant mind to rot away by being forced to plod along at the same pace as the rest of the below-average brats here, not when there was actually something he could do about it.

"Spicer," he began, laying his elbows on his desk and interlacing his fingers, "a few years back, I was a college professor; if you wish, I could teach you things a bit closer your intellectual level without necessitating a grade-change. Would you like that?"

To be pushed and challenged for once? Jack didn't have to think long.

"_Hell_, yes!"

With a soft smirk, the man took a post-it note from his desk, quickly jotting down his home address and handing it to the goth. "Be at my house tonight, 7:00 sharp; lateness will not be tolerated. Bring what you normally would to one of my classes. If your parents ask, you have a girlfriend. She's a blond junior whose name is Maggie, and you're taking her to dinner tonight. Any questions?"

"U-uh, no." Jack stuttered, trying to absorb all this.

"Good, now go home," he ordered, an almost playful smile taking hold of his features, "I've got the rest of your class' exams to fail."

With an amused snicker, the albino stood, replying, "Sure thing, Mr. Young; see you tonight," before taking his leave.

**_586. Hackneyed-_**

Having been without his mate's presence _all day_, Chase was more than annoyed: he was positively grumpy, and now that his cats had learned to stay out of his way, he had no one to terrorize with his mood, and so was lurking about his large library, a seemingly-permanent scowl on his handsome features.

Thankfully, his mood perked at the sound of footsteps behind him and the somewhat concerned query of, "Chase, are you okay?" and the man was excited to be able to have his love with him once more.

Upon turning to face his young mate, however, he gaped at what met his eyes, and uncertainly questioned, "Jack?"

And one _had_ to look closely to see it, as the goth looked like a completely different person: dyed purple hair in a typical emo-style to obscure his left eye, a black, studded choker around his slender, white throat (with matching bracelets), and in place of his usual red shirt and trench coat was a black t-shirt with the decal of a three-eyed skull and the white lettering, 'MUTANTS FOR NUKES'. He wore a baggy pair of black bondage pants and black-and-white checkered Converse, and finally, as Chase lastly noticed of the new look, silver skull earrings with amethysts for eyes dangling from his earlobes.

Feeling self-conscious from the unabashed stare his lover was giving him, the youth bit his lip and blushed furiously, a hand ruffling through his violet hair as his feet shuffled nervously. "You don't like it?" he questioned softly, "I mean, I just sort of figured my old look was getting a little...hackneyed. But, if...if this bothers you, though, I could change it ba-"

Jack found himself unable to speak through a combination of the breath being knocked out of him by a tackle to the floor and the warlord's lips pressed against his in a rough kiss.

"Don't like it?" Chase demanded huskily upon pulling away from the kiss, nearly purring to see that his mate had even put in colored contacts to change his irises to a bright, summer green, "I _love_ it; you look positively adorable. What do you say to me showing you just how _much_ I love it, my little emo-boy?"

With a slightly breathless chuckle, the youth nodded, glad he'd decided to change things up a bit.

**_587. Hedonism-_**

Sometimes, Chase pondered, he really hated his lover's phases, particularly the current one, which had him nude save for a loincloth as the goth reclined on a small sofa, demanding, "More chocolate sauce, Jambi!"

With a rough sigh at his new name, the man obliged, pouring another ladle-full of chocolate onto his lover's bare chest and stomach.

Having adopted the practices of hedonism, Jack had begun to revel in all of life's pleasures (save for sex, it unfortunately seemed), indulging in absolutely everything he wanted, and being, quite frankly, a pain in the ass.

"Jambi, I _insist_ you write me an opera!"

"An opera?" Chase deadpanned, "I've never written an opera."

"And I've never heard one!" the albino giggled, swiping a finger in the chocolate syrup on his chest and licking it off. "Mm, Jambi..." he cooed, yanking the man closer by the hair, "how is it that you're _so_ handsome?"

The warlord pulled his lover's hands from his long, dark hair and growled, "When will you be done with this little game of yours, Spicer?"

"Done?" Jack laughed, "How delightfully _absurd_, my pet!"

Chase internally snarled as he was kissed rather forcefully, thinking of how he could possibly get his mate back for this indignity by being just as much of a pain in the ass.

Perhaps he would introduce him to tantric sex; Jack was impatient by nature and would surely _hate_ it, and what sweeter revenge was there than enjoying consenual sex when your partner wasn't?

Chase chuckled low enough that the albino couldn't hear him; this would be _fun_...

**_588. Hodgepodge-_**

Chase had to admit he rather enjoyed his job here as a night guard for three reasons: first, the art in this museum was beautiful and in an impressive range of styles, a hodgepodge of creativity. Second, being allowed to roam the halls after hours let him view all of the art without the distraction of other people; he quite _hated_ other people, and the opportunity to be alone with so much beauty was a bit intoxicating. And third...he focused his flashlight on the ancient painting that had long ago earned a place among his favorites: The Lonely Nymph.

At first, he had been drawn to it because of its beauty: a slender, white boy with pointed ears kneeling at the side of a stream, fingers trailing along the surface of the water. Red-orange hair spilled down the boy's bare back, dark black markings (akin in nature to runes of some sort) twining around frail-looking limbs and a single hook came down beneath one of his eyes.

And those _eyes_, those _eyes_ that pulled the man in like a vacuum, red as blood and filled to the brim with sadness, gazing forlornly into the blue-blue depths of the stream.

The image had drawn him at first, yes, but then Chase had discovered its history and been tied even tighter to the painting with intrigue. It had supposedly been painted by his own ancient ancestor in his last moments, a tribute to his young lover that had been killed by a jealous witch, before he took his own life in grief. It was said that the lover's soul had been sealed into the painting with a spell, and he was meant to wait there until his beloved returned to him.

For some reason, Chase had always been drawn towards tragic romance stories like that, though no one who knew him would've guessed it.

And here he stood again before the painting of this gorgeous, sad boy, doing nothing more than watching, as if waiting for something to happen. He couldn't help himself, and every night, night after night, he was drawn to this spot like clockwork.

Tonight, though, something seemed different; he'd never been tempted to _touch_ the painting before.

But it was beyond his power, and almost hesitantly, he reached out a hand, his fingers just barely grazing the surface of the ancient parchment...and the world spun violently before going black.

Thankfully, consciousness returned quickly, and he was surprised to feel grass beneath him instead of cold tile, a warm, gentle hand on his cheek.

"My love?" a concerned voice queried, and the man groaned softly before sitting up and focusing his gaze on the speaker.

What he saw shocked him to the core.

There, kneeling before him innocently in all of his youthful (and unclothed, but who was looking?; he certainly wasn't) beauty was the very namesake of the painting itself with a smile and untold happiness in his red eyes.

"Oh," the boy grinned even bigger, "it _is_ you!" He clung tightly to the very confused man, as if he never wanted to let go. "You've finally come for me..."

With a start, Chase realized that his security guard uniform had been replaced with armor, and the museum itself with the quiet forest scene in the painting. "What are you talking about?" he questioned, a bit more than his fair share of baffled, "What's going on?"

The youth's smile faltered, and he stated, "You don't remember."

Chase shook his head 'no'.

The elfin creature sighed. "What's your name?"

"Chase."

"Chase?" the redhead's smile returned, "I like it. But, Chase, _you're_ the reincarnation of my lover; you wouldn't be here now if you weren't. But you're confused..." The nymph's pretty features became seductive as he moved closer. "Allow me to help you remember..."

Slender arms slid beneath the older man's, holding him tightly as the boy's soft lips pressed against his own. It was a simple kiss, chaste and quick, but in a flash, Chase could remember _everything_.

He remembered his previous life, he remembered meeting this sprite in this very clearing, he remembered their love for each other, and even the terrible agony of watching him die.

And, of course, he also recalled his promise.

"Jack..." he immediately identified upon breaking away, to which the pale youth smiled as brightly as he had before.

"_That's_ more like it..."

"I'm sorry it took so long, love," Chase sincerely apologized, returning his past lover's hug, "but I'm here now...forever."

Jack nuzzled into the older man's embrace gratefully with a laugh. "Finally..."

Despite how hard and how long the authorities had searched, no trace of Chase Young was ever found save for the flashlight he'd dropped. Of course, its doubtful that anyone noticed the change in the painting of The Lonely Nymph, the creature still knelt at the side of the stream and his fingers still in the water but a smile on his face and an armored man behind him, arms draped lovingly over his shoulders, and its even _more_ unlikely that anyone remembered the date to know that exactly one hundred years had passed since the thing had been painted.

But what was one more unsolved missing persons case?

**_589. Standing-_**

The golden-eyed warrior growled quietly, aggravated with his lack of success; five to six _hours_ hunting, and when he finally had a suitable beast in sight, a young upstart (clearly green at this) runs out screaming like a fool, scaring the animal off.

It was things like this which made him long to become a nomad once more, but no, he couldn't do that to his pretty wife (_especially_ not when the youth had begun to hint at the prospect of children).

No, he would stay with this tribe (no matter how stupid they were) so long as the pale-skinned boy wanted him to.

Still, though, he _hated_ this feeling of slinking back home empty-handed without dinner for his beloved; it made him feel like a failure as a provider, and this low mood stayed with him all the way home.

Upon arriving at the cave of his dwelling, however, he froze to see a large pile of berries (suitable for eating) outside, and his jaw dropped at the sight of his young lover standing beside it (with red-tinted hands to show he'd gathered them) wearing not a stitch of clothing as he beckoned his husband with one finger.

The golden-eyed warrior gladly walked over, abandoning his hunting knife in favor of curling an arm around his both lovely and nude wife's waist.

Well, maybe he couldn't _always_ bring home the proverbial bacon, but at least his pale-skinned lover both thought and planned ahead and didn't really care about his skills as a provider so much as the man himself...

**_590. Pause-_**

Having stayed up a bit late meditating in order to avoid his lover's seemingly endless pleas to go swimming with sharks (a surprisingly daring request coming from Jack, but troublesome nonetheless), Chase now returned to the bedroom to find his Jack sound asleep in their bed, and with a quick change of clothes, he gladly joined the albino.

Just as he was about to lie down and pull his mate close to him, however, a moan escaped the teen's throat, and instantly Chase realized that the goth was having a sex-dream.

How did he know this?

Probably from the way his back arched and he cooed, "Ooh, _harder_..."

The warlord smirked at this development; chances were that if Jack was having a sex-dream, he'd wake up horny, and a horny Jack Spicer was _always_ good for Chase.

Not to mention, of course, that it was incredibly sexy the way the albino's cheeks flushed and his hips undulated against an invisible lover's as he panted and groaned in ecstasy.

The man was _definitely_ enjoying the show, the lovely tune of the orchestra that was his Jack's vocal emissions...until an undeniably _sour_ note was struck.

"Ah, faster, Derrick!" Chase tensed at the unfamiliar name, his inner-dragon growling furiously; _his_ mate was fantasizing about another man? How _dare_ the boy turn to another for satisfaction, even in his dreams?! How _dare_ he even _hint_ that the lover he had was inadequate at pleasuring him?!

"Chase..." came the soft moan as the goth rolled over, his back to the warlord, "take me swimming with the sharks tomorrow, or I'll do this to you every night."

For a moment, the man gaped incredulously at the boy's back, only to snarl a minute later.

Manipulative little brat! He _knew_ how much Chase hated it when he expressed even mild interest in another!

With a ragged sigh to calm himself, he laid back against the silky-softness of the bedding and pillows, trying to get a good night's sleep; after all, he'd just been bullied into a shark-seeing expedition in the morning, and he'd need all the rest he could get to deal with his lover's excitement.

Ah, well, he'd always wanted to see a shortfin mako shark's legendary speed in person, he supposed.

--

**A/N:**

**_Flippancy- _Guess what move _I_ saw three times in the course of five days? If you guessed The Dark Knight, you'd be correct! Jeez, I turn _everything_ into Chack, don't I? Aw, well, whatever! :D Heath Ledger was truly fabulous in that role, though; certainly _my_ favorite Joker (and no offense to any Jack Nicholson Joker fans meant).****  
**

**_Heroes- _And a continuation to _Flippancy_, because I wanted to go a little further into the Batman/Joker relationship as I see it, so I did. :) **

**_Urgently- _Now this is a continuation of _Guardian_ in Chapter 26 for some reason. I think I decided to continue it out of the blue because of the movie Dragon Heart being on a couple of days ago, which is where I got the heart-sharing idea and the line, "my strength to purify your weakness", but of course, the dragon and the guy he shared his heart with were far from mates; if you haven't seen it, the dragon makes his friend kill him so that the human will die with him thus ending his reign of terror over the peasants. It's not the best movie ever or anything, but if you like dragons that aren't overly-CGI and are voiced by Sean Connery, its the movie for you! Yay, Sean Connery-dragon! :D****  
**

**_Frolicsome- _Okay, I have to credit Dave the Barbarian for the term 'Dinky Wuffle Song' and I have to credit myself for the second gag-script, because that's the story I always use when someone asks me to tell them a story (which happens surprisingly more often than you'd think). Also, I don't own Starbucks, because I don't even like coffee, so its really illogical that someone who hates coffee would start a chain of coffee shops, no matter how successful or lucrative they may be. **

**_Exams- _Don't own Post-It notes, but shit, I wish I'd thought of 'em; I never have a need for them, but whenever I'm near office supplies, I just want to buy a whole bunch of 'em for no reason. It's like they're specially designed to be alluring, even to people who have no use for them. o.0 **

**_Hackneyed- _I don't own Converse, either; I don't own a lot of things, really, as I'm being reminded in this chapter. o.o Other than that, I think the only thing I have to say is that 'grumpy' is a fun word. XD****  
**

**_Hedonism- _Because Matt loves Hedonismbot from Futurama and demanded I write this; oh, and to those who don't know, I believe tantric sex is a method of sex in which you're supposed to get really close to orgasm and then stop for awhile and start again, like, prolonging it for hours, and its supposed to be really intense. I figure Jack would not like this at all because he doesn't come off as patient, especially concerning sexual matters. ;P  
**

**_Hodgepodge-_ For some reason, I remembered the episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog (a favorite childhood cartoon of mine) where the statues and paintings of a museum came to life because of some eclipse or aligning of the planets or other, and I intended for the actual _painting_ of Jack to come alive, but changed my mind at the last second and this resulted. :)****  
**

**_Standing- _A continuation of _Violently_ by request. ;D  
**

**_Pause-_Jack's gotta put that genius-brain to work _somehow_ when he's not inventing stuff, so I figure that purpose would be manipulating Chase. XD In any case, I mention sharks because I saw an episode of The Most Extreme all about sharks, and I couldn't stop thinking about them; shortfin mako sharks are known to be incredibly fast swimmers, like, quick enough to keep up with a motor-boat (in actual numbers, 31 mph/50kmh and even up to 46mph/74kmh).**

**And there's Chapter 59 for you; sorry it took so long, I got lazy. XD But, at least its here now! I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading (I truly _do_ love all my readers; you make me feel important)! :D**


	60. Chapter 60

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**591. Curio-**_

Chase's every nerve went to full attention as he was grabbed by the arm and pulled away from the dirty streets of the marketplace and behind a curtain, after which he growlingly demanded, "Who are you? What is it you think you're doing?"

The elderly man who'd grabbed him smiled as he answered, "I am nothing but a merchant, my emperor, and I only wish to help you find what you are searching for."

Caught off-guard by the accurate label while in disguise, he questioned, "How did you-"

"Oh, I would know you anywhere," the stranger grinned, "but that is unimportant. I must admit, I was surprised to see a man of your stature in such a seedy place, but I quickly realized what your objective must have been. As the saying goes, 'looking for love in all the wrong places', eh?"

Realizing that this old man somehow had a way of knowing things, Chase sighed, admitting, "Well, its not as if I'd had any luck looking in the _right_ places..."

The man chuckled, walking around and lighting a few lamps, illuminating the tent as he sardonically replied, "I suppose, but I doubt your advisers would approve of an empress chosen from a whore-house."

Crossing his arms a bit indignantly, the emperor questioned, "And I suppose _you_ have another option for me?"

"Yes, your majesty," the man's wrinkled face smiled, "I do."

He rolled a small curio stand over to the center of the tent for Chase to plainly see. "I offer you your choice of these."

The younger man cocked an eyebrow. "You offer me jewelry?"

"Oh, not just _any_ kind of jewelry," he smirked mystically, "_enchanted_ jewelry. Each necklace you see is representative of a different type of lover to suit different men. This one," he gestured to a ruby hanging from a strip of leather, "will yield a lusty partner. And this one," he showed off an elegant-looking topaz teardrop on a silver chain, "represents a graceful and majestic lover. Do you understand?"

Chase didn't answer or even question the absurdity of the concept of magic; these streets were known to host odd occurrences. Instead, his eyes locked onto one of the necklaces, and he queried, "What is this one for?"

"Ah," the elderly man chuckled, removing the necklace in question from its display, "an excellent choice. This, sire, is just what you've been looking for: it represents true love." It was a lovely bit of jewelry, too, a white velvet choker with a moonstone pendant in the shape of a heart, a smaller ruby one in the middle of it. "Should you choose this one, its magic shall bring to life your perfect lover, one entirely suited to you. Normally, I would refuse to give out such a thing for any price, as very few deserve _true_ love, but you, your majesty...you _need_ it."

Ignoring the statement, Chase took the choker as it was handed to him, questioning, "What price do you ask for such a thing, old man?"

Perhaps it was his desperation for a lover that was not only beautiful, but had more than half a wit in their pretty little heads and understood every (admittedly dark) facet of his personality and loved him despite it, but the young emperor was fairly sure he would give up his very _rule_ if this necklace could truly grant him what this merchant said it could.

"Oh, I ask no price of you. I merely wish you to treat him well," he smiled gently, "for he is a sweet boy, and I should like to see him happy with you."

And in the blink of an eye, both the old man and the tent were gone, leaving Chase standing in an empty alleyway with the white choker in his hands.

Slowly, he turned and walked off, easily locating the carriage driver he'd hired to sneak him in and out of his palace (and he'd _had_ to in order to escape his pesky advisers).

As the ride 'home' began, he inspected the necklace draped across his palms; beautiful and soft to his hands. Then, without hesitation, he brought it up to his throat, clicking the clasp firmly between the dark curtain of his hair and the back of his neck.

He decided he liked the snug feel of the velvet, almost as if it'd been made for him.

He truly hoped the old man (or whatever he had been) was telling the truth...

**_592. Quick-_**

Chase hazed back into consciousness, much slower than he was used to doing, and he was almost instantly aware of the dull throbbing of his abdomen.

Memories soon fell back into place, and he gradually remembered the monks, the unfortunate loss to them that'd left him badly-injured, and then Spicer-his eyes shot open and he half-sat up (only vaguely noting that he was in his bedroom), immediately looking to his chest and stomach to see how badly the albino had attempted to treat his wounds.

Of course, imagine his surprise to see clean, professionally-done stitching on the once-deep slices that, even for his usual rate, seemed to be healing quite fast, and despite the aforementioned throb, there wasn't all that much pain.

A sudden snort pulled his attention to the other side of the bed where, looking like he was trying his hardest to become a complete ball attached to the very edge of the bed, lay Jack Spicer, back to the warlord.

Without hesitation, Chase reached out a hand and grasped the goth's shoulder, authoritatively stating, "Spicer."

And apparently, Jack wasn't a very deep sleeper in unfamiliar places, because he started at the touch, falling off the edge of the mattress with a yelp and a thud, quickly recovering and standing to his feet, the only evidence of the fall being an embarrassed blush on his pale cheeks. "Ch-Chase, y-you're awake..."

The man arched an eyebrow, laying back against his bed calmly; normally, he wouldn't let his guard down like this, but it was _Spicer_: even in his weakened state, he could handle _him_.

"Obviously," he quipped before demanding, "what have you done to me while I was unconscious?"

"Oh, right," the albino recalled, twiddling his thumbs for lack of anything else to do with his hands, "well, not much. I just cleaned and stitched your wounds (and just in case, I kept the metal scraps from your armor in case you, I don't know, wanted it for something)."

Chase was grateful for this foresight; with all the pieces of his armor, he would be able to repair it with magic instead of the infinitely more troublesome process of having it replaced.

"But," continued the goth, "I was _totally_ gonna be out of here by now, I swear! I managed to get you to your place and in here and everything, and you really didn't need me 'cause you were healing fine, but, um...your cats wouldn't let me leave, and I, uh, value my limbs. If you'd tell 'em to back off, I'd be outta your hair faster than an 'insert Clay-metaphor here', I-"

The man stopped the nervous babbling by raising one hand. "How quickly will I heal completely?"

"Uh..." Jack thought for a moment, his hands _very_ lightly tracing over the sewn gashes along the warlord's torso in order to take data and make calculations before answering, "well, you're a fast healer to begin with, and adding the stuff I injected you with, I'd guess...the stitches could come out in three or four hours, and the scars should be totally gone in maybe a day, two days tops."

With a low noise of acknowledgment, Chase took a moment to think; Spicer had done surprisingly well. He'd not only proven his loyalty by caring for him when injured (and doing a phenomenal job at that) but he'd also proven his high respect for the warlord by leaving him completely unmolested while unconscious, despite that _intense_ crush he had. He knew this because all of his clothing below the waist remained untouched, right down to the armor skirting, which he'd have known if it'd been moved or removed by its positioning or any fingerprints left on the pristine, metal surface.

He took a slow breath as he considered what to do next before deciding, and he firmly stated, "Spicer, I am pleased with you. As a result, you shall be rewarded."

"Wow, really?" the albino gushed, eyes alight with devotion, "How?"

Chase's sensitive hearing caught the way Jack's heart sped up when his hand closed around a white wrist, and with a smirk, he replied, "Oh, I think its something you'll enjoy..."

And with that, he yanked on the youth's arm, causing him to fall forward enough for Chase to roughly take his lips in a kiss.

As the goth eagerly began responding to him, he coaxed the boy onto his bed and beneath him, deciding he rather liked the feel of Spicer's body and lips.

Hmm, perhaps something could be done with Jack after all...

**_593. Linchpin-_**

Jack sighed as he left the house, parents screaming behind him.

He knew the fight was about him, but what else was new?

As much as they argued about and with him, though, he knew he was the linchpin of the family, the only thing holding them together.

Dad only stayed because of him, and in exchange, Mom pretended not to notice his innumerable affairs, and in return for both of those things, Jack was supposed to be happy for his 'complete' family every night as he listened to Dad bang a crack-whore in the attic and Mom using their poor dog as her own personal dildo.

God, his family was sick and wrong; at least _he_ didn't have some sexual quirk like that.

"Ah, Spicer, right on time as usual."

Huh? Oh, right, his teacher. His body must have been on total autopilot on his way here while his mind wandered. "Uh, yeah..." he answered slowly, snapping out of it, "So...what's today's lesson, Mr. Young? Something new, or more practice?"

"Oh, something new," the man answered cryptically, "but its not a lesson."

"What?" Jack questioned, shrugging off his backpack and laying it in the usual place by the door, "If its not a lesson, then what is it?"

"Mm," Chase sighed, looking totally serious as usual, "I'd simply like to discuss something with you."

They'd made it to the living room, and the older male gestured vaguely to the couch-loveseat-recliner area around the coffee table, offering, "Have a seat."

The albino knew the room well enough by now to know that the recliner was the comfiest of the furniture and so situated himself on the plush cushions of the chair. "So, what's on your mind?" he wondered.

"How to begin? Well, Spicer, I might as well start with why I stopped teaching at colleges. The problem," he stated bluntly, "was that there was too much temptation in the form of brilliant young students, and I didn't want something as base as an affair to interfere with my career. I am _not_ a pedophile, however, so I had assumed teaching at a high school would be safe in that respect because I have a strict personal policy about underage students, and the ones in your school are certainly no prize-winners as far as mental prowess goes; idiocy is a rather strong turn-off for me. And then..._you_ came along."

A very strong sense of something about to happen took hold of Jack and he could do no more than listen at rapt attention as his private tutor continued to speak.

"_You_ who are the brightest individual I've ever had the privilege of meeting, a _genius_..." The goth couldn't help but notice the lusty growl with which the word was spoken, and he vaguely wondered why that model-figured cheerleader that'd tried to get into bed with him after losing a bet had never made his stomach do flip-flops at the sound of _her_ voice, even when she had been describing pornographic acts in detail and Chase had only said one ordinary word.

"M-Mr. Young," he had to swallow to continue talking, his tongue feeling oddly cumbersome, "um...uh, are-"

"Tell me, _Jack_," the man purred, venturing ever closer to the younger's seat, "yesterday was your eighteenth birthday, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," the albino answered, a bit distracted by the look on his teacher's face (had he always been this gorgeous? Oh, yeah, that was why he'd stopped looking out the window in class; the view at the desk was _infinitely_ better), "wh...what exactly are you getting at, Mr. Young?"

The goth tensed to see the elder's ever-present glasses removed and lain on the coffee table, the chair he was in suddenly reclined nearly all the way back as a weight settled atop his hips and hands were pressed against the chair on either side of his head.

"I'm 'getting at' the fact that I am attracted to intelligence, and quite frankly," molten gold practically burned a hold in Jack's skull as Chase all but whispered, "I have _never_ been more attracted to someone _in my life_..."

Later, after discovering that gay sex in a recliner really wasn't all that bad and was even better in a bed, Jack took back his earlier comment about his family; he had a sexual quirk, too, and that just happened to be fucking a male teacher five or six years his senior.

Yeah, the goth decided, he could live with that. Unlike crack-whores and dalmatians, at least _Chase_ was _sexy_.

**_594. Holder-_**

When Jack awoke, his head felt fuzzy and the rest of him numb, unfamiliar, almost.

Feeling weak and sluggish, he only just managed to raise a hand to his forehead, making sure he didn't have some kind of fever-wait..._hand_? Not _paw_?

His eyes snapped open and he sat up, inspecting his, yes, _hands_ in shock; he was human again? How was that possible?! Wuya had said the curse would remain until his death, and he was pretty sure he wasn't dead!

Before he could ponder this any further, a hand shoved him back to the bed beneath him, and a glass of water took center stage of his vision. His throat feeling rather parched, Jack took it without question and greedily gulped the liquid down, not stopping until the entire glass was drained.

"Thirsty, are we?" a vaguely familiar voice chuckled at him, and as the empty glass was pulled from his hands, he gasped, "M-master?!"

"Oh, please," the golden-eyed warlock scoffed somewhat amiably, "call me Chase, kitten. Then again, I suppose I can't exactly call you 'kitten' anymore, now that you're human. Did you have a name before you were hexed, boy?"

Admittedly distracted by the man's charming demeanor (and he'd seen him be charming before, but only to other people; as a cat, he'd only dealt with Chase being normal), the young man eventually managed to answer, "Its...its Jack, Jack Spicer."

"Spicer..." he considered before giving the youth an incredibly sexy smirk, "it fits you."

A shiver coursed the albino's spine, and he suddenly understood why all women who came in contact with his master drowned the very air with pheromones at the sight of similar grins as the one he now sported; he had fallen for the man because of what he was like personality-wise, unable to appreciate any other kind of beauty due to his then-animal nature.

Now, as a shallow, looks-obsessed human, he was able to truly see the physical side of his attraction, and it was _sexy_.

"Do you know who cursed you and why?" came the nexy query, and Jack snapped out of his 'whole-cheese-and-crackers-how-did-I-not-notice-_this_-before' state and thought back for a moment, trying to recall the minute details of the situation.

"It was a witch named Wuya," he remembered. "She...I bumped into her on the road, and before I could apologize, she started ranting about 'being too good' and 'how dare he' or something, and the next thing I knew, I was a cat."

"Ah," the man sighed, "I had a feeling it was her. That explains why I found you on the same day as she left. You see, she was learning magic under me as my apprentice, but with her short temper and rash ways, I eventually decided to dismiss her. Apparently she didn't take too kindly to that and ended up taking it out on you."

With a quiet chuckle, the youth scoffed, "_Apparently_."

"Spicer...will you stay here?"

"What?" the albino questioned, "I mean, I guess I don't really have anywhere _else_ to go. Why do you ask?"

"Well," came the admittance, "I ask because I don't believe I am entirely ready to give up my pet..."

At the very slight tone of seduction within the last few words, Jack flushed, but actively pursued his desires for once by asserting himself. "Do you _want_ me, Chase?" he boldly asked, to which the warlock simply answered, "Yes."

The albino suddenly found himself beneath his master as the man purred, "May I have you?"

He really didn't have to think long on this, but pretended to for a little while before proposing, "Call me 'kitten'...?"

"Oh," Chase chuckled huskily, "very kinky, _kitten_..."

As he was kissed full on the lips, Jack smiled, internally wondering how angry Wuya'd be if she knew that her curse had actually ended up getting the man she was pissed at laid.

**_595. Nantucket-_**

"Agh, Jack, you idiot!" Wuya screeched into the goth's ear, "How could you have lost that Wu?! I'll _never_ understand why Chase fucks you!"

"Well, first of all, Wuya, I'm unbearably sexy; he can't _help_ but fuck me. And second of all, I think I know a poem that'll help you through some of these hard times you're going through." The albino took out an old-looking tome and put on a pair of bifocals, sitting down on his couch and gesturing for the ghost to approach him.

Cracking open the book, he flipped through it quickly and easily found the page he was looking for. "There once was a man from Nantucket," he read, "for a head, this man had a bucket. People told him that he was a freak; but in bed, he could make _anyone_ peak. His penis had the scent of an orange; and his joints squeaked like a door hinge. But please the ladies, he could; and the men, he would; and the children, he shouldn't; but he did anyway. The End."

The ghost stared at him for a long time before muttering, "Maybe he has a retard-fetish..."

"Oh, Wuya," Jack 'tsk'-ed sadly, "just like Chase; maybe _someday_ you'll understand."

Wuya simply grumbled and floated away.

**_596. Rectify-_**

Chase gave a rough snarl as he was forced to his knees in the center of the alchemic circle, his hands shackled to the floor. "You've no _clue_ of the danger you've put yourselves in," he growled at the burly hunters that had trapped him in his human form and brought him to this place, "dragons are immortal and our hatred _never_ dies!"

The biggest of the men scoffed condescendingly, "Money speaks louder than your threat of vengeance, dragon, _far_ louder. For so much gold as was offered, we would gladly incur the wrath of a _hundred_ of your kind."

As the hunters stalked off, the reptile's keen hearing picked up on approaching footsteps.

"Mommy," a quiet, young voice questioned, "where are we going? Who's he?"

"I," another, much older voice answered, "am a wizard, boy. Your mother has paid me well to use a binding spell on you and a beast so that you will have a protector and companion when your parents are away."

As one tiny facet of his personality wondered why it was the wizard and not the mother that'd answered the child, the rest of his mind went into shock and outrage; they were going to bind him to a _human_? Some snot-nosed little _brat_, no less?!

A decidedly closer noise reached his ears, then, a frightened squeak, and he looked up, his disheveled black-green hair not quite obscuring his vision.

An old man in robes stood beside a well-dressed blond woman, and clinging to her skirts was a small boy with very odd coloring, entirely white save for the frightened red of his eyes that only barely seemed to have the courage to stare at him from behind the pale pink of his mother's dress.

It was obvious that he scared the boy (which made sense, as children often have a stronger connection to the magical and he could probably see right through the magic holding him in this form), and he was glad that at least _someone_ in the room had enough sense to fear him.

The mother put her hand on her son's back and pushed him away from her, encouraging, "Go on, Jack, get close to him."

"What?!" the child quivered, "B-but, but he's-"

"You must be in the center of the circle with him for the spell to work, boy," the wizard sternly informed.

"Yes, he's tied down, son," the woman assured, "its safe."

With a low noise of apprehension, the boy began slowly inching forward.

Chase locked eyes with him, pulling a whimper from the youth's throat, and an intimidating growl had him yelping in terror as he dashed back to his mother, shivering and once more clinging to her skirts.

"Oh, for the love of..." grumbled the wizard before plucking the boy up by the back of his shirt in impatience and tossing him the short distance to the middle.

Luckily, it seemed he knew enough to tuck and roll, and so remained uninjured from the throw, ending up a bit shaken but otherwise well against the dragon's chest.

About to snarl and frighten the child away again, uncomfortable with the small hands on his arms and just the body in general being so close, Chase stopped himself at the scent that reached his nose.

This Jack obviously _needed_ the protection: he was quite unwell.

There wasn't enough iron in his blood and something in his chest didn't smell right, something wrong with his _heart_.

Even as a dragon relatively unknowing of the ways of humans, he knew well enough that beings with such diseases never lived very long.

Realizing suddenly that he was being sniffed at, Jack reeled backwards with a squeak of surprise, staring up at the dragon above him with wide eyes.

"You are very ill," Chase stated plainly.

Slowly realizing that this faint image of a human over the massive, dark green dragon was, at least at the moment, what was real, Jack hesitantly reached out a hand and brushed his fingertips to the cool skin of the male's cheek.

Chase made no protest and allowed this.

However, before another word could be said between the two, a painful wave of magic crashed over both of them, eliciting pain in every nerve ending, but as soon as it came, it was gone.

Chase immediately realized that the opportunity had been taken while both were distracted and in proper position to bind them.

The wizard came over and undid the shackles holding the dragon's wrists to the ground, and instead of lashing out at the old man, the reptile felt his arms curl around the thin frame against his chest, instinctively going to protect the young human.

"What's wrong, beast?" he taunted, "Don't want to kill me?"

The dragon said nothing, glaring ferociously from burning golden eyes.

The warlock cackled obnoxiously at this, turning to the blond woman behind him. "Come, my lady," he invited as they left together, "now that that's been rectified, there's still the matter of my payment..."

The dragon stood, holding the boy in his arms as he continued to glare in the direction the mother and the old man had gone.

"Um..." Jack squeaked carefully, "you're not gonna...hurt me, are you?"

"No," Chase answered solemnly, securing his hold on the pale boy, "no, I could not hurt you even if I wanted. I cannot harm a single hair on your head nor allow another to do the same. I am your guardian, now."

**_597. Man-Bitch-_**

"What?!" Kimiko cried in despair, "We _lost_?!"

"And to Spicer," moaned Raimundo, hand over his eyes, "how embarrassing!"

"Hey, hey, Xiaolin losers," Jack soothed, "don't be so down on yourselves. You know, I think I've got a story that'll get you through some of these tough times you're going through."

"Oh, no," Wuya groaned, "I'll just go; don't forget to come back with my-er, _our_ Wu!"

"I'll be at home," Chase also excused, "be back in time for dinner, bitch." (which was the name he called his lover in front of the monks once it'd become obvious that the two _were_ lovers; the goth simply took it as a sign of veiled affection).

Puzzled by the rest of the Heylin's abrupt leave, the Xiaolin nonetheless had no time to consider it as Jack launched into his story.

"In a world where robot-ninjas, shinigami, and pirate-zombies run rampant, one man has the power, one man has the skill, one man is...Arnold Schwarzenegger, the immortal slayer.

But then that one man decided that maybe, he didn't want to be 'the one man' anymore, maybe he didn't want to be a _man_

This is his story, a story of scandal, heroics, and sex changes. And sometimes flowers.

And so Arnalda brought her newly-transformed body to 'da Club, and quickly found herself a man-bitch, and she worked his man-meat raw with her lady-parts all night long. Arnalda kept going to clubs and getting new man-bitches until she messed with the wrong man...-bitch. Man-bitch, that is. Who turned out to be a powerful sorcerer.

Arnalda _wanted_ power, so the sorcerer turned her into the most powerful thing imaginable (except for Chuck Norris, Goku, and Robocop)-WOMANBEARPIG.

And then Arnalda worked WOMANBEARPIG's thick piggy-pink man-meat raw with her lady-parts all night long, causing a space time paradox to occur from Arnalda being able to make sweet, sweet love to herself as if she were two separate entities, and Chuck Norris transformed into Godzilla and went after WOMANBEARPIG/Arnalda to right the wrong done to the universe.

And then an epic battle ensued! The entire casts of The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and...um...Power Rangers waged all-out war against WOMANBEARPIG until she enslaved the very things she once swore to fight.

She recruited an endless army of robot-ninjas, pirate-zombies, and shinigami.

And then Gandhi came, and they were all so impressed by his sweet Gandhi-hawk (similar to a mohawk, but with that special Gandhi-flair), that they decided to make peace.

Seeing Gandhi, Arnalda finally realized her true love, and that was Gandhi himself!

And then WOMANBEARPIG and Gandhi had a litter of the freakiest children you've ever seen. Their names were Bertram, Ferdinand, and Nutter.

Until one day it was revealed that Gandhi was a double-agent. He activated a bomb resulting in the most high-octane most skillfully-choreographed fight scene ever witnessed by man, God, or 3-legged emu-rats, finally climaxing with Gandhi yelling at WOMANBEARPIG and her army, 'GOT YA, SUCKAS!'

And then Gandhi and WOMANBEARPIG and Godzilla-Chuck Norris (who reappeared for some reason) were just like, 'Well...uh...threesome?'

Until Jesus said 'FOURSOME!'

And they had oodles of fun together until one day, Jesus started feeling nauseous in the morning. He began craving odd things, like lemon-pickle ice cream, and he got mood swings every two minutes.

UH-OH, JESUS WAS PREGNANT!!! (the three exclamation points means its REALLY important).

When Jesus finally gave birth, the baby looked exactly like...INVADER ZIM. And so this was the catalyst to the war between WOMANBEARPIG and her forces vs the Irken Empire. The war was hard-fought and no one was winning, that is, until the Intergalactic Wizard Alliance stepped in, who was led by the sorcerer who was WOMANBEARPIG's former man-bitch, no less.

It was the ultimate custody battle: who would control the Jesus baby?

Well, anyway, it turned out to be the Irken Empire, because they had lasers and guns and crud, and easily blasted WOMANBEARPIG and her forces away.

They soon after decided it really wasn't worth it, and they sent Zim away to Earth where he made hot, interracial, gay love with Dib.

Gir video-taped the whole thing and posted it on Youtube. The End."

"What in tarnation...?"

"And I thought he couldn't get any crazier! Yeesh..."

"Gawd, Jack, how'd you manage to get Jesus pregnant?"

"An excellent story, Jack Spicer!" Omi happily praised, "The best I have heard in years!"

"What?!" the other monks gasped, "You actually _liked_ it?! It made no sense!"

"Oh, friends," the shortest monk laughed, "of course it did! You see-"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Jack interrupted, "If they're not smart enough to get it on their own, they don't deserve to know. You know, Cheeseball, I had you pegged wrong; you're alright. What do you say we go for that ice cream I promised you?"

Dark eyes lit up and he gladly ran over to the villain, clinging to the front of his trench coat. "Yes, creamed ice would be _most_ enjoyable!"

As Jack activated his helipack and flew off with Omi in tow, Clay, Kimiko, and Raimundo could only collectively wonder, 'What about _our_ ice cream?'

**_598. Barking-_**

Almost what could be considered scared, Chase dashed back to the den in which his mate had rested for weeks, alerted by the rest of the pack's barking that something was amiss.

His first thoughts, naturally, were gruesome; males were sometimes known to terminate pregnancies in order to bring females back into heat and impregnate them themselves, but no, none in his pack were so bold as to question his authority as alpha in such a way.

Perhaps an alpha from _another_ pack had seen fit to hurt his lover?

Whatever it was, he had to admit that he was highly concerned for both his Jack and the pups in the young wolf's belly.

Arriving at the den, however, his concern was eased as he saw the white-furred creature alive and well, the elderly female that had long served as a midwife licking soothingly at his ears as three tiny pups nursed from him.

"Chase," his mate smiled happily, "you're here!" He glanced to the newborns, assessing them briefly. "I...know they're a little small, and there's not very many, but-"

"Enough," Chase stopped him, unable to take his eyes off the two dark-colored pups and the one snow-white one, "they are perfect." He brushed his muzzle against his mate's affectionately. "I am proud to be their sire, all the more so because you are their mother."

Jack snickered nuzzling back as he teased, "You're such a softie..."

"Only for you," the darker alpha protested, "and now for them."

**_599. Stiltman-_**

Jack walked into his lover's palace well past midnight, trying to sneak and be quiet, but the lights nonetheless flickered on and he was abruptly faced with a very disgruntled Chase Young.

"Where _were_ you?" he demanded, "Dinner was _hours_ ago, and I received not so much as a call to say you would be late."

"I'm sorry," the goth sheepishly apologized, "I should've called. You know, this reminds me of a story! Once upon a time, there was a mighty Orange Warrior, whose citrusy wrath made his enemies quiver in fear.

He was a member of the Fructose Rind Unique Initiative Team also known as FRUIT. The members of FRUIT were as follows: Banana Bob, Orange Warrior, and Lady Lemon. Together they fight the forces of the Super Cool Unicorn Redemption Very Youthsquad or SCURVY which consisted of Greentooth Gill, Mr. Pocket Dictionary, and Afrobro.

One day, FRUIT was enjoying a day out at the local health spa; Banana Bob was taking a rejuvenation bath (in a tub filled with whipped cream, ice cream, and chocolate syrup), Orange Warrior was lifting some sexy kiwi-bitches who thought he was buff and manly, and Lady Lemon was having her rind scrubbed and styled when suddenly Doctor Octopus attacked and crushed all of FRUIT and made them into juice!

Then he and his tentacles began to jam down hard to a hippity hoppity pop song. 'Yo I'm Doc Ock, and I'm here to say: you betta eat yo' bananas foo'!'

And Doc Ock then made a fruit smoothie out of FRUIT and drank it, and he enjoyed it very much.

AND THEN SCURVY APPEARED! DUN DUN DUNNN!!

Otto Octavius was far too preoccupied with drinking his smoothie, and so he allowed his tentacles to handle them.

So, anyways, it turns out that the tentacles were REALLY horny, and they then proceeded to ass-rape SCURVY until they were mushy paste, which the appendages absorbed to keep their systems functioning as a kind of nutrition.

Then Spiderman appeared and challenged Doc Ock to...a Yo' Momma contest!

'Oh, no, you di'int!' stated Doctor Octopus before slapping his hoes, Shocker, Vulture, Rhino, Sandman, and Electro all at once. 'Yo' momma is so stupid, she thinks _Stiltman_ is cool!'

'Oh yeah?' Spiderman countered, 'Well, yo' momma's so fat, she used a bowl of _pasta_ to cut your hair!'

After this blow was struck a fierce battle waged, lasting days and nights and ranging from 'yo' momma's so stupid' to 'yo' momma's so analytical'. Just when Doctor Octopus was about to give the killing blow, they started making out and grinded hard, all night long.

It had been a few months since the one-night-stand, and Spiderman was out fighting crime, when all of a sudden, Doc Ock appeared!

'Doc Ock!' the superhero gasped, 'You stay away from these innocent civilians, or I'll tear your tentacles off and your spine with it!'

'No, no, no, wait, I...I need to tell you something...' The supervillain seemed edgy and fidgety as he shuffled his feet, motioning for Spiderman to come closer.

When he came over, the older man whispered something in the red-and-blue clothed super-human's ears, to which he tensed. 'Seriously?'

Ock nodded.

'You're sure?'

Another nod.

'And it's mine?'

A third nod.

'Oh...uh, wow, this is awkward. Uh, okay, fine people of Queens, I have a declaration to make: my lover, Otto Octavius, also known as Doctor Octopus or for short, Doc Ock, has conceived my love-child from our night of hot passionate smexing!'

'...why did you tell them that?' Otto squeaked, blushing from horrid embarrassment.

'You know,' Peter admitted, 'I don't really know.'

Nine months later a baby was born. It had sixteen arms, eight from the octopus and eight from the spider. It was a long a treacherous custody battle, not because they wanted it but because they didn't want anything to do with it.

So...Stiltman took it!

So then, Stiltman began raising the child with his teachings of using machines to become really, really tall. The child soon rejected these ideals, and instead grew up to be a _useful_ villain.

When this occurred, Doc Ock sought long and hard to find his abandoned son, and when he found him, he informed, 'Many-Arms-Man, I AM YOUR MOTHER!'

Many-Arms-Man, whose real name was Doria, gasped, tears in his eyes. 'Mommy!'

The two fondly embraced, crying it out as they cuddled together. After the sob session was over, the two went back to formulating EVIL (which, as you know, is Every-Villain-Is-Lemons).

Their main focus was to get revenge on Spiderman for knocking Otto up and refusing to pay child-support, thus forcing him to give the child up to Stiltman (totally forgoing the fact that the villain would have been able to steal some money to raise the child by himself, and simply hadn't wanted him then; he had changed his mind).

They began to return library books _late_ and worst of all _they didn't pay the late fine_.

So...yeah, then an explosion happened and killed them and everyone around them. The End."

Of course, by this time, Chase was scowling darkly and tapping his foot, annoyed beyond belief. "And _what_, pray tell, does that story have to do with _anything_?"

"Psh," Jack scoffed, "just goes to show I should hang out with Omi more; at least _he_ understands me!"

"Omi? You were out with _him_?"

"Yeah," the goth answered, "he's cool, believe it or not. He _gets_ my stories. Maybe I should be dating _him_ instead..."

"Oh?" his lover growled, "Then tell me, Spicer, would you rather be with someone who understands your stories," here he came up behind the albino, sliding a hand just under the bottom hem of his shirt, "or someone who can make _you_ understand the meaning of pleasure?"

"The second one," Jack mischievously grinned, "_if_ you intend to follow through with that."

"Don't worry," Chase assured with a chuckle, "I certainly do..."

**_600. Disorder-_**

Chase was stunned to see his first sight upon awaking, white hands stained with blood tearing what looked to be a heart from a man's chest cavity, and he truly had to fight his primal urges of fear to first remember where he was and what was going on.

The knowledge came quickly, and he instantly recognized the white hands as those of the witch doctor that'd saved him on the beach.

What...what on earth was he doing with a human heart?

Fortunately (or perhaps _un_fortunately) this question was answered as the boy raised the muscle to his lips and bit into it without hesitation, blood quickly spreading over his mouth and cheeks as he devoured half of it.

Of course, Chase was understandably nervous to realize that he was tied down to a table just as the now-dead man was, but as he was, in fact, tied down, there was really nothing he could do about it.

The shaman suddenly turned to face him, grinning brightly with bloodied teeth; the bound man took a moment to wonder where that lovely youth of before had gone and who this devil in his place was.

As the pale creature approached, the golden-eyed man thrashed against the ropes holding him but to no end, and he choked as what was left of the heart was forced against his lips, gagging when the metallic liquid dripped down his throat.

"Easy, easy," the boy soothed with a chuckle, "don't struggle so much; you'll hurt yourself!"

Chase froze. "You...you speak my language?"

"No," the albino laughed, "its just my magic letting you understand _my_ language and vice versa, at least now that you've had a taste of blood and can share in that magic a bit. Do you have a name? I'm Jack."

"Chase..." he slowly answered.

"Well, Chase, I'm sure you're confused," the understatement of the century, "so let me tell you what's going on: I want you to be my apprentice, you know, teach you to be a witch doctor like me. You seem like you'd be pretty good at it, and from the need for revenge I can feel all around you (just a shot in the dark, but I'm guessing towards whoever beat the figurative crap out of you), I think you could use the power. I mean, the whole thing'd necessitate selling your soul to evil, of course, but-"

"Evil?" he gasped, "I refuse!"

"Oh," Jack sighed, "don't be such a prude; despite the oxymoron, evil's not so bad! In fact, its better: there are no need for rules, no need for those pesky morals, no conscience, in this case at least, eternal life and youth, and of course, power." Jack smirked as he saw the typical human sense of right and wrong in Chase's eyes waver at this and he kept right on pushing. "Really, you'd be doing the world a service! Good can't exist without evil, you know. Think about it: without evil, how would anyone know good? And without a defined sense of either, the whole _world_ would fall into disorder, _chaos_! C'mon, Chase," he coaxed with a teasing grin, "I know you want to: I can see it in your eyes..."

The man was silent for a long moment before hesitantly questioning, "_If_ I agreed...what would you ask of me?"

"Oh, there's really not much to it," Jack assured, "all you have to do is eat this half of the heart and you'll be able to have a full share of my magic until you're able to get your own, and that'll come with exactly one year's training. The power will only give you the 'immortal life' part of the bargain if you're skilled enough, but hey, you're learning from the best, so I wouldn't worry about it. That's really all there is to know about what you're (possibly) getting into."

Golden eyes warily looked over the bloodied bit of flesh in the shaman's hands and he demanded, "Why would you want an apprentice in the first place?"

"Honestly? I'm lonely," he admitted, "and immortality is really nothing without someone to share it with. Besides," he winked, somehow managing charm with the blood on his lips, "you're cute."

Chase looked deeply into Jack's red eyes to determine this as truth, seeing the ruby irises sparkle with youth and vitality but with a slightly darker sadness lurking in their depths.

He easily made his decision.

"Untie me and give me the heart..." he smirked devilishly.

--

**A/N:**** So this is what I am calling the Ridiculousness/Requests Chapter because its composed of requests for continuations and ridiculousness.  
**

**_Curio- _This is, like, the _one_ that doesn't fit into either requirements, but I wrote it because its been in my head since two chapters ago, and I figured I'd write it. Don't worry, I won't leave you there; I'll be writing a sequel to it. ;P****  
**

**_Quick- _Requested by mistique-serenity, a continuation to _Bilk_ from Chapter 55. **

**_Linchpin- _Requested by The Black Crow, a continuation to _Exam_ from Chapter 59. I DO NOT approve of crack-whores or sex with dogs; as if I'd have to make that clear. XD****  
**

**_Holder- _Requested by mistique-serenity, a continuation to _Wizard _and _Warlock_ from Chapters 38 and 53 repectively. **

**_Nantucket- _RIDICULOUSNESS NUMBER 1- Okay, there's a story behind all of these: When I was in school several months ago, some friends and I decided to do one of those things where someone writes a part of the story, the next person continues it, then the next person and then back to the first person and so on. They all turned out random and crazy, and upon reading them, Matt demanded I include them in the story and purposely gave me words that forced me to include them. This one in particular was written between a friend named Ariel and I. He's awesome. Anyways, though, we went line-by-line until I wrapped it up with the last three-to-four lines. **

**_Rectify- _Requested by ScathingSarcasm, a continuation (in the form of a prequel) to _Guardian_ and _Urgently_ in Chapters 26 and 59.****  
**

**_Man-Bitch- _RIDICULOUSNESS NUMBER 2- This was actually the first one written, and it was compiled by myself, a friend named Evan, and, again, Ariel. We are crazy. Also, I just noticed that I don't really have any female friends; they're all guys except for, like, two or three. o.0 (Also, in case you're wondering, both Jesus getting knocked up and the ending were all my parts. XD)**

**_Barking-_ (not outright but somewhat) Requested by ScathingSarcasm, a continuation to _Wolf_ from Chapter 37; I mention its not an outright request because she mentioned pups, and I was like, "Hey, why not?" :D****  
**

**_Stiltman- _****RIDICULOUSNESS NUMBER 3- The final in the series; Matt was, I guess, jealous that I didn't do one of these with him, so he's like, "We're doing one now!" And I was like, "B'zuh? Okay." And Matt, as you may or may not have guessed by now, has a love for both acronyms and the Marvel universe, and this resulted. And, of course, he ended it as he usually does when he can't think of an ending: he made everything blow up. XD  
**

**_Disorder- _Requested by ReaperRain, a continuation to _Drub_ in Chapter 58. I've never seen a Jack brings _Chase_ to the side of evil, so I figured I'd give it a shot. :)**

**And that's the end of the Ridiculousness/Requests Chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it! :D**


	61. Chapter 61

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

**_601. Lummox-_**

Jack shivered, feeling a horrid mix of hungry, cold, wet, alone, and frightened. He _hated_ this place (at least without...well, his name would not be spoken of); the rainforest was truly no place for a mere mortal.

It was the middle of the night, and he now felt stupider than stupid for running from his more bestially-attuned lover, but he was upset, _hurt_! He hadn't even considered the dangers of being out here all alone when he'd left, but he just _needed_ to be alone, then; he still sorta did, but it was pitch-black and his human eyes couldn't _see_, but his ears could _hear_ the noises of the forest's predators, and he was sure enough that he'd make a nice, tender feast for any one of them.

He was a proud person, but not so proud as to deny that he was truly terrified.

When he felt something clutch hard at his shoulder, naturally, he tried to scream, but his mouth was soon covered to prevent such an action. His panic eased a bit, though, as he realized both sensations were caused by hands, and there were no other humans anywhere near here: it had to be his enchanted lover in his human form.

As the jaguar noted that his captive wasn't about to take the banshee wail that was his scream to the beast's sensitive eardrums, he removed his grip and turned the pale creature to face him.

The first words out of Jack's mouth were, "Go away, Chase, I hate you."

"Hate?" he snorted, "A very strong use of words, lover."

The human crossed his arms over his chest, huffing, "Yeah, well, I mean it, and I'm not your lover!"

Chase was unconcerned of his albino's loud tone attracting any other predators; now that he was here, his aura would be enough to keep every dangerous animal within a five-mile radius away while he resolved this little lover's quarrel.

He took one look at Jack's eyes (slightly unfocused due to inability to see in this blackness unlike his, which were made for such things) and slowly hissed, "Liar."

"Oh, just go away!" the youth insisted, "No one asked you to come and find me, jackass!"

Golden eyes with slit pupils widened for a brief moment before narrowing in the first display of anger since the spat began, Chase shoving Jack down onto his back against the exotic plant-life and the soil. "You should be grateful that it was _I_ who found you and not something that would delight in tearing open your soft stomach and ripping out your throat, whelp!"

"Well, maybe I'd rather one of _them_ be here!" Jack growled right back, too hurt and angry to care about the fact that though he appeared human, this was a jaguar pinning him down, "At least _they_ wouldn't reject me for trying to be what they supposedly _wanted_ me to be!"

Chase's rage abruptly cooled at this, realization taking its place. "Reject you? Is that what all this is about? You believe I _rejected_ you?"

Jack briefly thought back on how he and the enchanted cat had just finished making love when he'd made his plea, and then how Chase had done no more than look at him before stalking out of their den without saying a word; yeah, that seemed a lot like rejection.

"Didn't you?" he sighed, tone resigned.

"No, lover," the bigger male answered, gently laying a hand on one soft, white cheek, "no. I was merely surprised by your request. I needed time to think it over alone; I never intended to make you believe such a thing."

This was the truth; the jaguar had been as close to frightened as he would admit upon returning home to find nothing of his human but their empty bed of furs and the scent of tears, and had immediately set off looking for his lover. He'd have found Jack before nightfall, too, had the albino not tried to cover his tracks and lose his scent in a stream.

"In fact," he informed with a small grin, "I have an answer for you: yes. I will gladly take you as my official mate."

Though he could only just barely see the soft glow of Chase's eyes above him, the youth whimpered quietly, overwhelmed by the fact that he had been wrong and Chase apparently wanted to keep him, let alone in so revered a position, and he managed to find the dark, wild hair of his lover long enough to tangle his fingers in it.

"Y...you mean it?"

The cat's expression was all seriousness. "I mean it."

The human smiled a tearful smile, half-sobbing, half-giggling, "Then c'mere, you big lummox!"

Chase did so, the two kissing long and hard (using making out as a way of making up) in shared affection. Things may have even escalated right there had the albino's stomach not growled loudly, causing an embarrassed blush to take up residence on the youth's pale cheeks.

His lover, however, merely grinned, teasing, "Well, it appears that your heart isn't the only needy part of you, love."

Jack blushed a bit harder, but joked, "No, my heart's just 1/3 of my needs." If the second third was his mate's stomach, then Chase did not need to be told what the final need was.

"We'd best return home, then," he decided, "to tend all three of those."

Still essentially blind, Jack could only hear the lusty grin on his handsome lover's face through his voice as he was pulled from the ground to stand beside the beast to whom he'd given his heart, but nonetheless returned it with one of his own, agreeing, "Good idea, Chase."

_**602. Headache-**_

Jack woke up with a slight headache, but otherwise well. It'd been a couple weeks since the man he looked up to had decided to play doctor and had taken him in, and things had actually been going pretty well.

Of course, Chase's brand of therapy had both shocked and confused him at first, sex until every muscle but his heart stopped working (and even _that_ was pushing it, some days), but he enjoyed it and wasn't about to complain.

The kicker, though, was that it was actually _working_: his ulcer hadn't acted up in a full month, himself too forcefully relaxed by his own endorphins to stress over anything long enough to cause it to, and as it'd been _years_ since knowing what it was like to go longer than a week or two without puking blood, Jack was ecstatic to say he hardly remembered he even _had_ such a condition!

Last night, though, had very nearly sent him into a relapse as he now recalled through the pleasant, sleepy fog of having just woken up.

Wuya had shown her ugly face and bitched him out for what felt like hours, yelling about how many Showdowns he'd missed (and consequently Shen Gong Wu), the state of disarray his lab was in (he'd forgotten to order his bots to clean it before he'd been abducted), and 'was he just going to let his dream of world domination die and let her down', and just on and on and on and on until that familiar abdominal pain had begun to show signs of resurfacing.

Luckily, Chase had shown up when he did, significantly lowering his chances of a full-blown relapse with just his presence, and had growled several unpleasant things at the woman, most of which had to do with the insult to his person by breaking into his home and then harassing a guest.

This had soon driven the witch away, but what had Jack utterly shocked was one small sentence spoken by the warlord: "Leave my lover alone."

_Lover._ Not fuck-buddy, not cum-dumpster, _lover_.

Of course, the goth doubted _Chase_ of all people would use such crude terms, but there were other ways to get the same point across; the man had used, 'lover'.

Jack knew that this word by itself meant next to nothing, but, too, the way it'd been said, firmly, clearly, almost reverently, told him something: Chase cared. The sex they shared was more than just a release of lust or a stress-treatment and was meaningful to some extent.

The albino looked down to his stomach to where the warlord was laying, cheek resting against the white-white skin, and he smiled, gently petting the black-green hair that tickled his side with the man's every breath.

Well, there was nothing to say Chase _loved_ him, but there was at least enough trust there to allow him a position in which even _he_ could kill the man before he could attempt to retaliate, and at least for the time being, the goth decided that that was enough for him.

**_603. Mendicant-_**

The prince of the kingdom was to be wed soon, and the news spread quickly through the whole village that their small town was going to be scouted for potential brides.

Every available woman, young maidens and not-too-old widows alike, put on their Sunday-best and stood side by side along the streets as an official and (to their utmost surprise and delight) the prince himself in all of his young, handsome, _rich_ beauty walked along, scrutinizing the females.

Each in turn were saddened as, though the official looked them up and down with visible interest, the prince only eyed them with obvious disdain and quickly passed to the next.

Chase, needless to say, was _not_ having fun; these women were nothing short of offensive to his sensibilities, shallow and placing all importance on appearance.

Beauty was important to him, yes, but beauty was absolutely worthless without character; each female he passed had taken the highest care of her appearance and dress, but her eyes were empty, showing that she was a soulless vessel that would instantly obey his every order without question or a thought of her own: there were _more_ than enough of those in his court.

He had been nearly at the end of the street, utterly disgusted with his choices and ready to leave, when he heard the man he had come with (he hardly ever bothered to remember these peoples' names and so did not know this one's) angrily exclaim, "Filthy mendicant! What do you think you're doing here?"

Intrigued, Chase turned to the scene of the clamor to see a young beggar leaning up against the side of a building, his position interrupting the line of women.

"This is a private event in which the prince is choosing a bride; how _dare_ you show such disrespect to him?!"

The beggar, Chase acknowledged, was a young man of about fifteen with an interesting and exotic color scheme of white hair and skin (though how white it truly was, he could not tell for the dingy state of it) and bright red eyes that glared up at the nameless man.

"I'm not 'daring' anything," the youth growled, frowning, "I _live_ here. Its not like I set out today plotting how I could go out of _my_ way and inconvenience _me_ just to ruin your precious _prince's_ day out, so _please_, don't mind me; just go right on with Harlot Inspection Day."

Everyone but Chase gasped in horror and rage at this rudeness while Chase himself chuckled very softly, amused with the rather bold manner of this boy; he was entirely unused to seeing _anyone_ around him speak their mind and was interested by it.

"You-you-you-you rotten whelp!" the official snarled, "I shall see to it that you're exposed to the rack, the iron maiden, the whip!"

The youth merely looked at him calmly, eyebrow raised. "You really have a problem with me being here, don't you?"

Chase's grin broadened as the nameless man's face went beet-red. "Yes, I do!"

The beggar then coolly questioned, "Are you the prince?"

"What? No, I'm not the prince!"

"Then please, go fuck yourself." the boy huffed, a disgruntled tone coming into his voice, "If the _prince_ has a problem with my being here, I'll move, but I'll be damned if I give up my meager living space for some pointless lackey."

Before the 'pointless lackey' could give a furious retort, laughter sounded in the street to everyone's shock and horror, even more so as they realized that it was their soon-to-be king that was doing the laughing.

"You," the young man chuckled, slowly returning to seriousness, "what's your name, boy?"

Surprised at actually being addressed, the beggar immediately answered, "Jack Spicer."

"Well, then, Spicer, I've decided that it is you I shall marry." Deftly forcing down the outcry at this with a wave of his hand, Chase listened only to Jack's reaction to it.

"Me? Seriously? _Why?_"

"Honestly," the prince explained, "I find you refreshing. Not surprisingly, I'm forced to live a very sheltered life. I am relieved to find that there is at least _someone_ who has the gall to stand up to me and my rule. I have always wanted a partner to match my fire, and based on that little outburst, I believe that could be you. In addition, I'm afraid my speech leaves much to be desired in the ways of bluntness. I could have said something of the same meaning that you did to whats-his-name and would be all but ignored and met instead with pretty words. I get the feeling that having you around would be useful in getting my point across to my mentally-deficient advisers. What do you have to say to my offer, Spicer?"

"Well...okay, I guess," Jack accepted the surprise proposal with a casual shrug, "so long as you don't mind that I'm not all that pretty."

"Nonsense," Chase scoffed, helping the boy up from the ground, "I'm sure you clean up just fine."

"Pfft, alright then, but you're in it for the long haul; a charming, handsome man like you, you'd have to _kill_ me to get rid of me, now."

Noting with a small measure of surprise and delight that Jack didn't seem to find his wealth or status a priority worth mentioning, the man assured, "I wouldn't dream of it."

_**604. Bicycle-**_

"Spicer...let me get this straight: you want to try lovemaking...on a bicycle?"

"Yep."

"Alright."

**_605. Nitpick-_**

When the emperor awoke, an unfamiliar feeling made itself known, that of a warm body laying atop his.

Opening his eyes, his hope for having been given the truth was rewarded as he saw one of the loveliest faces he'd seen to date, soft, childlike features held in the cherubic innocence of sleep, a paler color of flesh than he'd ever seen in a human pressed up against his bare chest as long arms curled around his neck.

"It was true," he murmured softly, in near-awe of the fact, "the necklace came to life."

"Well actually," a tired voice slurred, "I'm technically more of an enchantment brought to life _from_ the necklace."

Chase scoffed, lightly admonishing, "Don't nitpick. It's far too early."

The boy lifted his head with a sleepy smile, leaning forward to press a gentle, chaste kiss to the emperor's lips. "Good morning, I guess."

Chase smiled, too, feeling rather comfortable around what was supposedly his perfect lover and ran his fingers through white hair as soft as the velvet of the choker had been, testing the feeling out and liking it. "A good morning indeed," he agreed, "have you a name?"

"Well," the moonstone creature considered, oblivious to the way his master was admiring his ruby red as he thought, "I don't _think_ so..."

"Not even one from a previous master?" Chase queried.

"Um, actually, you're the first," the boy admitted, "most people either want mind-blowing sex without commitments or some sort of servant to make them look good. I'm neither of those, so nobody's wanted me yet. But, I'm getting off-track, aren't I? Well, you need to call me _something_...how about Jack? I've always sort of liked that name."

"Then I shall call you Jack," Chase acquiesced, rather enthralled with the fact that this boy given to him so freely was still pure, untouched by the lusty hands of man or woman and that _he_ had been chosen to taint that innocence (and there was his dark side coming through), "but for now, would you explain to me how this whole spell works? Is this love you are supposed to have for me built into your nature somehow, or is it the magic forcing you to love me?"

The man was honestly curious, as he wasn't sure he could stand to live with a forced love.

"Neither," Jack answered, "its really more like I'm...mm..._inclined_ to love you, like a predisposition thing. Whether I actually end up doing so or not is on you, like if you beat me and rape me, it probably won't happen, but so long as you're decent to me, the chances are good."

Pleased to hear this, Chase smiled lightly, laying a hand on the boy's lower back. "I don't believe you need worry of pointless violence or rape; I at least like to think I am above such vile things."

"Then consider me as good as head over heels!" Jack happily chirped, snuggling back down against the finely-muscled, tan chest, quickly falling back asleep.

The emperor, too, prepared to return to dreamland, easing the pale body off of him and to his side, getting Jack in a comfortable position cuddled to his front before pulling the silken sheets over them both.

Thank whatever gods had given him such a chance!

**_606. Modus Operandi-_**

Jack had been feeling odd for several days with no apparent cause, but he soon figured out what was happening to him, a day he'd been both dreading and anticipating for years: he was coming of age.

Though he looked it, he wasn't human.

He was part of a near-extinct race, creatures half-human and half-bug. There weren't many of them left these days, but they all still knew each other, as was their general modus operandi, and every last member of every last branch was still connected.

There were all sorts of branches, too, beetles and bees and fireflies and flies and everything in between, but Jack...Jack had been cursed with the rarest of the branches: the butterflies.

Their biology had been a constant source of unfairness to the poor goth, as it had condemned him to the life of a weak, clumsy caterpillar during the time he'd needed _much_ better to impress the one he loved, instead causing him to annoy the man and earn his hatred.

Now, though, he could really do nothing more than remain trapped in the cocoon he'd formed, quietly stewing in the sheer irony of Chase having so accidentally stumbled upon the truth in labeling him an insect as he waited for the transformation to simply be over.

The cocoon stage was notoriously short, but was known for its pain and discomfort.

The first day of entrapment had his limbs feeling weak. The second came the headache and the third came the migraine. On the fourth day, he lost his sense of consciousness, only able to haze in and out with no rhyme or reason. The fifth day, what little sight he had in the darkness died. The sixth day brought a painful burning sensation to his skin that refused to relent, making Jack sure it was being singed slowly off. The seventh day, to add to everything else, a queasy stomach was thrown into the mix, leaving the poor boy scared and helpless and alone. He couldn't imagine how it could get any worse, but he feared it would.

Luckily for him, however, he was wrong, and on the eight day, he was freed from his organic prison.

The cocoon burst open suddenly and Jack collapsed to the floor, covered in a clear goop. He had to cough raggedly for several minutes to clear his throat of the stuff, and when he finished, he expected to feel awful, sick, and terrible, but...there was nothing.

No pain, no weakness, no ill feeling; he was perfectly fine, in fact better than usual!

Oh, he had been waiting for this _far_ too long.

Standing, he walked to the mirror in his room, wanting to see what changes the transformation had wrought on his body; he remembered that his mom had been a total _dog_ before her transformation and afterwards, she'd become a model.

Reaching the reflective surface, he was shocked to the core by what he saw: his body had a sort of toned took, as if he'd been actively exercising for the past week, and his arms and legs, though still long, had an elegant look instead of an awkward one. His face was the really stunning part of it, though; his cheekbones were a bit higher, his jawbone sharper in the absence of baby-fat, and his eyelashes were a jot longer, shading his _slightly_ more almond-shaped eyes in a way that-oh, Jesus-tap-dancing-Christ, he was _pretty_! There was no other word for it but 'pretty'.

And hell, now that he looked, he could've sworn that even his cock was a little bigger than it'd been!

Tearing himself away from the mirror, Jack meandered over to the closet, noting as he did so the grace and ease with which he now moved; he was finally comfortable within himself, and why not? _This_ was right, _this_ was his real body, the one he'd always been meant to live in.

It took a bit of digging, but he managed to find clothes that fit (as he'd grown an inch or two), and he now wore a black cashmere turtleneck coupled with a pair of dress pants and shoes of the same color as he snagged his helipack off of his bed.

Where was he going, you might ask? Well, where _else_?

Sure, Chase had rejected the lowly caterpillar, but Jack'd like to see him deny the gorgeous butterfly...

**_607. Nonchalant-_**

Chase and Jack were having a disagreement.

It had all started one night when the couple was cuddled together, watching a movie, when Jack had nonchalantly informed his lover that he'd gotten a tattoo and then its location, and the fight had begun.

"A _tramp stamp_, Spicer?! What in the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Oh shut up," grumbled the goth as he sat down on the couch, mindful of the tender and bandaged flesh of his lower back, "you don't own me; I'll get a damn tattoo if I want, and I do, and I did, so deal."

The fight had lasted about a week, and though an apology had come from neither side, it was something of an unspoken truce in which the source of the argument was not brought up.

However, that changed just a few days after the truce was struck.

"Chase...the bandages came off a couple days ago."

The warlord growled at this mention, not wanting to speak of it what with the both of them half-naked and the albino on hands and knees beneath him. "No." he said simply.

Jack whined, squirming a little. "_Please_, Chase, I want you to see it..."

Realizing that his lover probably wouldn't consent to sex if he didn't, the man huffed, reaching his hands around Jack's waist to undo his pants and remove them in order to obey the desperate plea.

"You confound me, Spicer," he said, "I already find your ass perky and interesting, leaving no need to dress it up. I can't understand why you would want to mar perfec-..." Chase found his mouth frozen upon catching his first glimpse of the tattoo, utterly floored.

It was a tribal design, as he'd expected, but above and below it in an elegant but bold black lettering were the words, 'PROPERTY OF CHASE YOUNG'.

"Spicer..." he all but breathed at the black-and-white of the ink-design.

"You like it?" Jack softly queried, "I got it 'cause I wanted you to know that I don't plan on ever leaving you. I wanted to do something permanent like this to show you that I wanna be with you forever."

That was why he'd gotten it exactly where he did, too, even though its more painful to get a lower-back tattoo; his ass really _did_ belong to Chase, and he wanted the _world_ to know it.

"Wh...what d'you think?" he timidly wondered.

Normally, the warlord thought tattoos vulgar and disgusting, for fool little hooligans thinking that using needles to stain their flesh with ink made them cool. This, though...

"Beautiful," he declared, tracing the letters with his fingers before draping himself over his lover's back to bring his mouth to the shell of his ear, "the most tasteful tattoo I've ever laid eyes on. I appreciate your sentiment, love, so allow me to gift you with one of my own, one to show you that I intend to _keep_ you forever..."

Jack was quite happy to say that he was afterwards unable to walk correctly for going on two weeks.

**_608. Deeming-_**

"You give him back, you-you-you...big meanie!"

Thyton bemusedly scoffed at the demand, deeming it relatively unimportant and tightening both his arm and tail around the 'him' in question, lounging casually in his throne.

"I will do no such thing," he declared. "I have taken quite a liking to my Urchin, and he is mine."

Before the red-haired mermaid could protest this, the merboy chimed in, "Really, Ariel, its okay. I love Thyton, and he's good to me; I'm happy here."

"But you can be happy in _Atlantica_," the girl pleaded, "with your _friends_!"

"Oh, yes, 'friends'," the purple seasnake laughed, "all of you royalty, and yet you leave him to live in squalor as opposed to inviting him to live with you; even _poor_ mers would have offered this to an orphan friend."

The crab, the fish, and the mermaid looked away at this, ashamed at not having offered.

"Ariel," spoke the young, scruffy-haired blond gently, "I love it here. I've got everything I could ever want: a steady boyfriend, a whole kingdom to rule, great people all over, weekly festivals, awesome food-"

"I guess dat's why you got so fat, den!"

All three visitors to Atlantis had noticed the very slight protrusion of young Urchin's stomach, but had said nothing out of politeness, this silent rule broken by Sebastian in his attempt to defend his ego from the rejection.

The boy blushed at the accusation, embarrassed, but a scaly purple tail curled affectionately around his waist, hugging the small bulge in a snug, gentle grip.

"That, crab," Thyton imformed, "is not fat. You see, it seems my Urchin has a bit of seahorse blood in him." Orange eyes then brightened in sadistic glee at the shocked and mildly horrified faces of his love's 'friends' as they realized what he meant, and he firmly instructed, "Leave my kingdom now, or I will have you charged with conspiracy against the prince and unborn heir of Atlantis, the penalty for which is death."

As, reluctantly, the Atlantican trio took their leave, Urchin fixed his tuna-blue eyes on his beloved. "Thanks for not being _too_ harsh on 'em, Thyton," he cooed.

"You are welcome, love, but you know that should they return, I shall not be so kind."

In lieu of the long tail around his stomach, the younger merman had to maneuver himself carefully around without dislodging it (because he really _did_ love how no other could hold him that way) until he was face-to-face with his king, tan fingers threading in short, choppy purple locks. "I love you, Thyton."

He chuckled at the truly innocent statement. "I love you, too, my Urchin." And the two then shared a fond kiss.

**_609. Obstreperous-_**

Upon returning home after an errand, Chase frowned to find the scent he recognized as Spicer's in the air.

Now, in actuality, he didn't _hate_ the kid, but it was just that he always made himself into a _headache_, obstreperous and obnoxious and just plain foolish.

He'd always thought to himself that if the boy would just calm down and think once in a while instead of always being hyper and fidgety, that he might actually be a worthy ally.

Calling over one of his favorite felines, a white tiger, he questioned, "Bella, why has Spicer come here? Why did you not drive him off?"

_He merely wishes to speak with you, master,_ the cat assured. _I brought him to your bedroom to await you._

"My bedroom?!" the warlord demanded angrily, "That is strictly off-limits to my guests, _especially_ Spicer! You should know that."

_Trust me, master,_ the female grinned, _I believe you will thank me once you have seen him._

As the tiger stalked off to do her other duties, Chase scoffed lightly; he rewards a servant with a _small_ measure of free will, and it is abused.

In no mood at the moment for any shenanigans, he immediately teleported to his bedroom, authoritatively speaking, "Spicer, I-..."

He stopped upon seeing a beautiful young man laying atop his sheets, dressed all in black, and he only _just_ had the presence of mind to ask, "Spicer?"

The creature lying on his bed responded to this, moving slender arms to rest behind his head. "You know, Chase," he began in a voice that was undeniably Jack Spicer's, if a bit deeper and smoother, "you may not have known it, but you were right to call me an insect. I am one. But then again, you're Chase Young: you're _always_ right."

The warlord was temporarily confused, thrown off by the lack of sense in the statement and the sudden change in the albino's form and demeanor. "An insect? But you..." he gasped suddenly as his keen intellect put the sentence together with the recollection of an ancient race he had thought _long_ dead, "you're-"

"Yes, I'm one of _them_," Jack assured, "you got it. You know, whenever I used to see you or hear your voice, right up until I stopped being a caterpillar, I'd get so excited and confused, like I wasn't sure if I should run up to you and kiss you senseless or run _away_, and as fast as possible. Now," ruby-red eyes opened, shaded by dark lashes as they looked softly, almost longingly upon Chase, "there's none of that. I'm calmer, now; I can think straight. I'm more...relaxed now that I don't have to try and function in a body that doesn't fit. I came here to apologize for giving you so much trouble when I wasn't who I was supposed to be yet, and...and to ask you something..."

The pale youth covered in black sat up on the man's bed, soft-looking, longish strands of white hair untouched by dye or gel hanging _just_ in his eyes as he fixed Chase with a pleading stare. "I understand why you wouldn't want the awkward caterpillar; if I were you, I wouldn't, either. But...would you give the butterfly the same treatment...?"

"No," the dragon found himself answering immediately, too tempted now by this slender, sexy thing on his sheets begging for him to do much else, "no, I would not."

He joined Jack on the bed, laying his hands on cashmere-clothed shoulders before pressing his mouth to the other's gently, as if he feared too much pressure would break him.

Lowering the very rare species of butterfly back to the bed, Chase spared a thought to how, later, he would assure Spicer that he wasn't doing this because of the beauty the youth had gained, but because he had waited a long time for something like this to happen, waited for a day when he could accept the goth as his ally and that it just so happened that the transformation into something worthy of his attention had caused an immeasurable and irresistible loveliness in addition as a bonus.

Now, he was only concerned in stripping Jack of his clothing and spending himself on and in the butterfly's charmingly pretty body, expressing all the previous thoughts with his body and passion instead of his words.

**_610. Sacked-_**

"Welp, I got sacked!" Jack informed upon returning home, causing Chase on the couch to look up from his book.

"Already, Spicer?" he demanded, "You just got the job yesterday; on what grounds were you fired?"

"Well," the goth sighed, removing his coat and helipack, "I bit a guy's wiener, I touched some old lady's pussy when she told me not to, and...I punched out a four-year-old."

And with that, he was gone to take a shower, leaving Chase to stare in mild horror after him.

Of course, Jack hadn't _really_ done the things the warlord was thinking: he'd simply gotten hungry on the job and taken a bite of a customer's hot dog, pet an old woman's cat despite the fact that she didn't want _anyone's_ hands on Mrs. Fluffykins, and...alright, well, he really _did_ punch out that four-year-old, but still, it _totally_ wasn't as bad as Chase was thinking!

--

**A/N:**

** _Lummox-_ Just a random idea I got in my head, no more, no less.**

**_Headache-_ A continuation of _Darkness_ from Chapter 53.**

**_Mendicant-_ I figured Jack would be neat as a disgruntled hobo, and it just so happened to set itself in medieval times as I wrote it. XD**

**_Bicycle-_ These days, I tend to forget to make some funny prompts, so I have a resolution to myself that in every chapter, there will at _minimum_ be two funny ones to keep myself from getting too serious. This was the first of the two. Also, Chase will try anything once. XD**

**_Nitpick-_ Continuation of Curio in Chapter 60, because I _could not_ leave you hanging at that cliff. It was _way_ too steep. ;P**

**_Modus Operandi-_ I'd been entertaining the idea of doing something like this to Jack for awhile, 'cause I really think that it'd be cool if all this time, he's just been waiting as a little caterpillar, biding his time until he emerges as a beautiful butterfly; this originated as just a metaphor, but in this, I decided to make it literal. :)**

**_Nonchalant-_ I don't know why, but I just really wanted to make Jack get a tramp stamp for like a whole week, and then I ended up designing one (which was recently posted on my deviantART account), and promised myself I'd write something for it as soon as possible, and this resulted. XD**

**_Deeming-_ A continuation of _Atlantis_ from Chapter 27 by request; oh god, the show blows dead bears, but if you ever HAVE to watch it, look for Urchin; he's crazy-adorable, like SERIOUSLY. As a bonus, he's played by Danny Cooksey as I mentioned before, and you can really hardly tell, but GOD HES SO DAMN CUTE YOUR TEETH WILL NOT ONLY ROT, BUT THEY WILL BECOME MARSHMALLOWS AND YOUR EYES WILL MELT INTO SUNSHINY RAINBOWS. God, I love him. ;3**

**_Obstreperous-_ A continuation of _Modus Operandi_ from earlier in the chapter, in which Chase encounters the new Jack Spicer and likes very much what he sees. ;P**

**_Sacked-_ The second amusing one of the chapter; gosh, isn't the English language fun? You can take something totally innocent and turn it into filth. Ahh, my kind of language! :3**

**Anywho, that be the end of the chapter, and thank you for reading the strange inner-machinations of my mind!**


	62. Chapter 62

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**611. Querulous-**_

Chase growled to himself as yet another servant returned to him, claiming failure.

A _very_ important delegate from a neighboring land by the name of Jack Spicer was staying at his home for the duration of treaty negotiations, and he had supposedly fallen ill. However, he was refusing any help brought him (being a querulous pain in the hind end about it, too) and was claiming that he would see no one but the Lord of the Manor himself.

Now, Chase really had better things to do than tend a sick brat, but this delegate truly _was_ important, and so after about the sixth servant sent away, he spoke, "Enough of this! I shall see to him myself."

Upon reaching the guest room and opening the door, a lump under the sheets of the bed shifted slightly before a muffled voice grumbled at him, "_Another_ servant? I thought I told you already that I-"

"You asked for the Lord of the Manor," the man interrupted firmly, "and so I am here."

"Oh, good," the voice decided, suddenly much brighter in tone, "finally! You see, I have something that really needs your attention."

"And what would _that_ be?" Chase dully questioned, not even bothering to hide his annoyance.

However, this annoyance disappeared as the sheets were suddenly thrown off and he was given his first look at the delegate, whom he had not actually seen before.

What met his golden eyes was a snow-white body, nubile and young, belonging to a red-headed boy with eyes of a similar shade, the youth smirking in a rather dirty manner and sporting a fairly impressive erection.

"That'd be me." Jack informed matter-of-factly.

And hell, Chase didn't need to be told twice to act.

**I AM HOLDING**

_**612. Impulse-**_

The court was in an uproar, absolutely _furious_ at their prince's decision.

"Sire, this is lunacy!" exclaimed one man. "You cannot simply choose a wife on impulse, much less..._that_!" interjected another.

"Silence!" Chase roared at the multitude of advisers, "I shall hear none of your talk. I will be marrying this boy with or without your consent."

"Your majesty, you don't understand-"

"No, apparently _you_ don't understand," Jack frowned, "so allow me to translate. He's saying that _he's_ gonna be the goddamn king in like, a couple days, and you? You're nothing. He's gonna marry me whether you like it or not, 'cause your opinion isn't worth _shit_ to him." The pale teenager spared a look to his future husband. "Am I right?"

The elder man smirked and nodded. "Precisely, Spicer. Thank you for conveying my point."

"No problem, stud," he casually shrugged in return.

"Sire, you can't _honestly_ wish to marry this unwashed, uncultured, _male_ hooligan?!"

"Leave," Chase huffed, patience abruptly gone as he put his arm around his bride's shoulders, "this topic is not up for discussion."

"But-"

"For you idiots, that means, 'get the fuck out, you're not changing my mind'."

Reluctantly and grumbling, the various men shuffled slowly from the room.

"An excellent first day, wouldn't you say so?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded, "I think I handled 'em pretty well."

"_Fabulously_ well," Chase assured, "I am certainly not regretting my decision to wed you. Not to mention, of course, that you _have_ cleaned up rather nicely..."

And the young albino _had_ cleaned up well, looking particularly _royal_ in the fine satin clothing he'd been given (colored black at his request), his white skin and hair pristine as snow without a hint of dirt or grime thanks to the luxurious bath he'd been gifted with, and his red eyes sparkling like fine rubies from happiness instead of dull pools of blood lurking with tell-tale signs of hardship. The silver bands around his forehead and neck, too, were a nice complement to the golden ones Chase possessed.

"You wear your new mantle well," he commented, "like royalty already."

"Yeah, well, I guess I always sort of felt like one," Jack confessed, "even though princes don't exactly have to beg on the streets for enough money to live."

A gloved hand grasped the young man's chin and the king firmly stated, "You shall never have need of begging again. From this moment on, anything you want or need shall be given to you as soon as you ask it of me," before leaning in to take his soon-to-be queen's lips with his own.

**A FANART/FANFICTION CONTEST.**

_**613. Verisimilitude-**_

Chase could not say he was one bit happy with the past few months, denied his young mate's body and even his happiness for solid _weeks_ as he spent all of his efforts in convincing Jack against the verisimilitude that had him depressed and traumatized.

But now, it finally seemed, his efforts were paying off: the goth would no longer wake in the middle of the night crying and screaming incomprehensible apologies to his dead mother, had not attempted suicide in three weeks, and though he would still flinch at the mention of her, he would no longer run from the room trying desperately to hold back his sobs.

Jack was at last getting over her death.

Chase spared a brief glance to the albino cuddled against his chest, asleep, and gave a noise half-chuckle, half-relief: he was _smiling_.

While he had dearly missed being able to make love to his Jack after Mrs. Spicer's last words had been used to tell him that her fate was _his_ fault for saving himself (because though he was evil, demanding, even _requesting_ sex of an emotionally-scarred young man was downright _unthinkable_), what the warlord had missed the most was his Jack's smile.

**IF YOU THINK YOU MAY BE AT ALL INTERESTED**

_**614. Mood-**_

"Chase," Jack called, in a bright, cheery mood this morning, "there you are!" He caught up with the royal and interlaced their fingers, scoffing, "Jeez, this place is like a maze, huh?"

Chase laughed softly at the analogy, agreeing, "Yes, I suppose to those who haven't lived here their whole lives, navigating the palace halls _would_ be quite difficult. Any particular reason you've decided to come and seek me out at the crack of dawn, Spicer?"

"Oh, I _always_ wake up this early," Jack grumbled, "still on peasant inner-clock, and all. Besides that, though, I guess I figured we could...spend some time together."

The prince laughed at this in amusement, chiding, "You needn't try so hard to gain my favor. I am already enthralled with you, Spicer, so you truly shouldn't try to force what is already there. You may end up achieving the opposite of the desired effect."

"Sorry," Jack muttered, "its just this whole thing's..._a lot_ for me. I mean, I get picked as a potential husband for a guy who's _awesome_ and _sexy_, and if he decides to marry me, I never have to work on a farm again. I _don't_ like farming. I'm a delicate flower. Delicate flowers _do not_ farm! Delicate flowers-"

"Alright, alright," Chase chuckled, "enough; I understand your point. However, I believe that the 'delicate flower' will be pleased to hear that farming is not anywhere in its future."

"Huh?" Jack intelligently inquired as he and the prince entered the palace gardens and sat on a marble bench.

Chase took ivory, slightly calloused hands in his own, smirking, "The wedding is arranged for this Saturday."

The younger of the males was completely struck dumb for a long, quiet moment.

When he recovered, however... "Oh, Chase, really?! Thank you, thank you, thank you, I love you, you know that right?"

"Your contentment is equal to mine," the man solemnly assured, "for I have finally been given the chance to be with a unique individual that isn't just some brainless aristocratic female, and that is an immense relief to me."

Jack looked at Chase softly for a minute, sympathy in his eyes, before kissing him full on the lips and crowing, "Hot damn, I got me a sexy husband!"

**IN PARTICIPATING**

_**615. Turpitude-**_

The Jade Warlord gaped openly, a feeling of mild horror coursing through his veins as the Ruyi Jingu Bang that he'd been after was raised threateningly in the mortal teenager's hands and swung _hard_ against the stone statue that was the very Monkey King he'd frozen decades ago in their duel.

No..._no_! He was never meant to be freed! The simian youth was meant to be _his_ to look at for all eternity; if he was set free, he would leave him and never return, and Chase could _not_ allow that to happen, could _not_ allow the excitable creature to escape him!

Unfortunately, it was already too late to stop it, and Jack was free of his stone prison.

With the magic he possessed from his heavenly title, he pulled his beloved staff to him, that ever-present smile on his face and in his red eyes, and gave it an extravagant twirl before slamming it to the floor, thus sending a strong pulse of enchantment through the room.

In the blink of an eye, Jack was suddenly on the stunned warlord, legs around his waist and tail twitching mischievously as his free hands (for his legs were strong enough to keep him clinging to Chase) simultaneously let down the dark, luxurious hair pinned atop the man's head and traced random patterns on the breastplate of his armor.

"You cheated," he quipped playfully before kissing the one who'd trapped him for five-hundred years.

Naturally, this threw Chase off, but it was a pleasant surprise. However, at an odd feeling of stillness all around him, the Jade Warlord broke the kiss to warily inspect the room, given pause at the fact that everyone besides them was frozen in place. "Wh-"

"They're stuck for the moment," the Monkey King answered the mostly unasked questioned, "but enough about them. I'm smarter than you give me credit for, you know. I _get_ you and the turpitude with which you think; do you really figure that I can't guess why you'd wanna turn me into a statue?"

The white-skinned creature's tail curled around Chase's wrist and his arms about his neck, bringing their faces close enough so that their noses touched. "We can figure out my living arrangements and what to do with all those guys later; right now, I've had blue balls for half a millennium thinking about how _hot_ it is that you of all people would _cheat_ in a battle just to keep me around. Think you can take care of that for me, Jade Warlord?"

And the wicked man most certainly could.

**RULES AND FAQ ARE UP ON MY DEVIANTART ACCOUNT**

**_616. Educational-_**

'Rooming', so to speak, with an otter had been a rather educational experience for Chase; he had learned that they were very social creatures and _loved_ interaction of all kinds, proven by the number of instances in which Jack had pounced on the crocodile without warning, making desperate and many pleas to go play with him.

He'd also learned how affectionate they could be through the various incidents of snuggling and licking and cuddling for no reason whatsoever, just _because_.

Naturally, though, his favorite tidbit of information discovered was the tendency of otters to repeatedly do things for the sheer _enjoyment_ of it. Because of the way humans thought, Chase could not make love to his Jack in the daylight hours lest he wanted a media circus about interspecies, same-sex breeding to occur, and so allowed them all to think that their relationship was simply interspecies friendship: far less press that way.

Once the last guest left the zoo, however, Jack was _insatiable_, a fact that the admittedly randy crocodile was rather glad for; he _did_ so love to make his mammal happy...

**ALONG WITH A FEW ALREADY-SUBMITTED ENTRIES**

**_617. Truculent-_**

"Spicer," Chase frowned at his lover, "you truly _must_ stop trying to antagonize me. I fear one day you shall push me too far and cause me to lose control, and my inner-dragon is a fierce and truculent beast."

Jack gave a quiet, half-muffled snicker, and the warlord demanded, "What?"

"M'sorry," the goth giggled, "but every time I hear that word, I think of a truck made of veal."

"...may I ask _how_ you possibly relate the two?"

"Think about it: some guy's got a veal-truck, and another guy comes along, and the the first guy asks, 'Hey, man, you want a bite of my veal-truck? Its _truculent_'!"

Chase simply facepalmed and growled as Jack snickered at his lover's reaction.

**AT CRYSTALLICSKY. DEVIANTART. COM**

**_618. Warns-_**

"Y'know, Chase," Jack smiled softly, sitting in a lotus position in his companion's palm, "its really cool to talk to you. Most humans get so greedy about their gardens, acting like they own the nature there just because they had the seeds planted, but you're different; you understand that us plants are alive in our own right and can't be owned. I don't know, I guess I like that about you."

The king grinned at the tiny creature in his hand. "It is nice to speak with you as well, flower spirit. You are a refreshing change from the all-too-boring humans I normally converse with. They desire to know everything about everything, but you could care less. You know what you know, and that's that. I suppose its good to realize that not _everyone_ in this world is such a greedy individual."

The sprite was quiet for a moment, little dragonfly wings twittering as he thought. "Can I kiss you?" he eventually asked.

"So soon?" Chase inquired, startled; he had, he admitted, been considering the possibility of taking the fairy as a lover (even managing to find a way around the size-difference), but..."We only met a week ago. You seem entirely too casual about this."

Jack shrugged. "I'm a flower; we're not picky as to who we germinate with, so long as we like them and they're relatively healthy." The human cocked an eyebrow, to which the spirit clarified, "I'm easy."

"Ah," said Chase.

"Besides that, I guess I've never kissed anyone before or been kissed. That's a human thing, so I've just...never gotten the chance to do it...I've heard good things, though!"

The king smiled almost teasingly as he replied, "I must warn you, it will be difficult with the size difference."

"I know," the creature admitted, turning pupil-less red to the man in a puppy-dog stare, "can we try anyway?"

"Very well." Chase raised his palm high enough so that Jack, about the size of his pinky finger, could reach his lips. When he felt delicate little hands touching to his bottom lip followed by the incredibly negligible sensation that he could only assume was the fairy's attempt at kissing him, the bigger entity pressed back ever so slightly, only to cause the teeny person to be pushed back onto his rear end with a soft yelp of surprise.

As Chase chuckled at him quietly for this, Jack giggled, "You sure know how to lay one on a guy!"

"Yes, well, be that as it may, I get the feeling that would have been more enjoyable for both of us were we the same size."

"Yeah," the pale young man sighed, "I guess so, but we both know _that's_ impossible..."

"Is it?" the golden-eyed human challenged, "You see, I have a witch in my employ-"

"You?" Jack laughed, going into a dramatic pose, "You, the sinless _god_ of a king you are?"

"I have more sins than you know," he replied, "but that is not the point; I have a witch in my employ, a traitorous one, so with the magic I personally have learned, I've stolen her free will to prevent betrayal. Through asking her counsel, I have learned that there may be a way to make our sizes equal."

"R-really?!"

"Yes," Chase confirmed, "however, it would require the sacrifice of your wings."

The flower spirit stiffened, the frail appendages snapping together behind him as if sensing danger. "M...my...wings...?"

"I would not make you do this," Chase calmed the little creature, using the very tip of his pinky to pet white strands of hair, "I am merely presenting it as an option to keep you informed."

Jack shivered lightly, but his facial expression betrayed only thought. It seemed forever until he spoke, but at last, he said, "Let's do it."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, "I wanna try. I wanna know what its like to kiss a human, even if it means my wings. Besides," he grinned mischievously, "I hear the way humans germinate is really fun."

The king smirked at the fairy, assuring, "You may be losing your wings, Jack, but if you enjoy 'germination' as much as I intend to make you enjoy it, you'll still get to fly..."

**OF COURSE WITHOUT THE SPACES.**

_**619. Scapegoat-**_

Chase Young had just been on a very _long_ trip away from home, and upon returning, he was looking forward to a relaxing evening: a nice, hot meal, a few hours with a book he'd been meaning to read, and then a satisfying bedroom-romp with his younger lover.

He was therefore completely dumbfounded to find an entirely trashed front room (looking like a wild frat party had occurred for a week straight, and saying nothing of how the other rooms must have looked) and his albino mate amidst the chaos, looking rather hung-over.

Before he could say a word, however, Jack pointed to a random cat in the room, vehemently exclaiming, "He did it!" before quickly fleeing the room.

**THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.**

_**620. Conform-**_

"My lord, you certainly seem...happy this morning," Chase's personal assistant commented, to which the young man smiled (actually _smiled_).

"Thank you, I _am_ happy; I've decided on an empress."

"Oh, excellent, sire!" the older man exclaimed, "I _knew_ you would take to Wuya in time-"

"Not her," the emperor scoffed, "I would _never_ marry that frigid, power-hungry cow."

"Then who-"

"Chase!" a voice squee-ed happily before a slender, black-clothed form collided with the man in question, the two soon kissing fondly like old lovers with all the passion of new lovers.

"Assistant," Chase addressed, having entirely forgotten the man's name and not caring in the slightest, "I would like you to meet Jack, my wife-to-be."

The assistant gaped at the youth clinging to his superior. "My lord, you _can't_ mean-"

Chase cut him off by turning to the boy beside him and inquiring, "Jack, would you mind if I had a private word with my assistant?"

"Of course not!" Jack chirped, sneaking one more kiss before allowing his fiancé to drag the other man away.

"I will marry him," the royal growled the minute they were out of sight, slamming the assistant up against the wall, "and you will at least _act_ happy about it. I will not have our union ruined by you, the first of many naysayers."

"But, emperor," he protested, "you don't even _know_ that boy!"

"_I_ do not know _him_, but _he_ knows _me_ enough to make such a thing comfortable." It was true in this respect as Jack had been brought to life with knowledge of all aspects of Chase, enough so that it was almost uncomfortable _not_ to marry him! "I will know him in time."

"But he is _male_!" the assistant blurted, "He can bear no heir!"

"An heir is unneeded," the emperor growled, "have you forgotten of my cousin so soon?"

"Omi? He's merely a child!"

"Now," Chase corrected, "he is a child _now_; he will be a man by the time an heir is needed."

Desperately, the assistant sputtered, "B-but, but-"

"I am emperor." Chase stated firmly, "I have chosen an empress. My empress is a man. My cousin shall succeed us. There are no problems with this. You shall not ruin our wedding for my bride."

The older man could do nothing but conform to his king's will and watch blankly as they returned to the ever-chipper Jack (entirely ecstatic about the wedding) before his lord gave the boy so sweet a kiss that it almost made him wonder why they should _not_ be married.

--

**A/N:**** Well, I guess I figure this one as the Royal Continuation Chapter, for there are many continuations, many involving royalty/nobility. XD**

**_Querulous-_ Random idea that popped into my head; as I mentioned awhile ago, Matt gave me a bunch of really obscure vocabulary words, and I've been forgetting to define them, but this chapter, I really think I need to. Querulous is defined as 'habitually complaining'.**

**_Impulse-_ A continuation of _Mendicant_ of the chapter previous, in which Jack begins his first day as royal-translator for the stupid. XD**

**_Verisimilitude-_ A continuation of _Survival_ from Chapter 13 by request; yay, Jack is recovering from sad, sad, trauma-ness! Defined as 'something having the appearance of truth'.**

**_Mood-_ Continuation of _Lady_ also in Chapter 13 and also by request.**

**_Turpitude-_ This resulted from my recollection of the movie I saw many moons ago, The Forbidden Kingdom (as its being released on DVD around now), and I saw much potential for Chack in that movie, yes, indeedy, because of one big reason: a character portraying a 'Jade Warlord' and one portraying the 'Monkey King' together, in one movie. To this I say, "CHACK!" Defined as 'inherent baseness, evilness'.**

**_Educational-_ Continuation of _Ball_ in Chapter 44, 'cause I wuvs me some otter-Jack and randy crocodile-Chase. XD**

**_Truculent-_ This'd be the first amusing one of the chapter. ;) Defined as 'feeling or displaying ferocity; cruel or savage'.**

**_Warns-_ A continuation of _Flytrap_ in Chapter 9, because Anubis-Admirer brought up the concept of teeny-Jack last chapter, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, I did one once! I should write about it again!:D"**

**_Scapegoat-_ The second funny one, ladies and gentlemen, though I'm sure you're perfectly aware. ;P**

**_Conform-_ A continuation of _Curio_ and _Nitpick_ in Chapter 60 and 61 respectively; I figure Jack'd be all excited about getting married, but he's a very emotional creature with many mood-swings; like, one guy saying something against it, he'd either get really pissed off, or more likely because he's hormonal right now, be sad about it, and Chase ain't gonna let nobody fck with his bitch! XD  
**

**Additionally, I apologize for the message interrupting the story, but I figure most of my fans who would be willing to do this are more likely to be reached here than in the oneshot I also made an announcement about it in, and not _everybody_ reads the Author's Notes, so I put it in the actual story itself. o.o"  
**

**But that'd be Chapter 62 for ya', so thanks for reading! :)**


	63. Chapter 63

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--  
**

_**621. Lucubrate-**_

"Leave me, Spicer," Chase demanded of his lover, "I feel I must lucubrate on this."

Jack stared at him wide-eyed for a moment.

"Wait…d…don't you need _me_ for that, or…?"

The warlord scowled. " 'Lucubrate', you imbecile, not 'lubricate'! Now, leave!"

"Alright, alright," the goth surrendered, already on his way out, "but if you think you'll be getting to do that second one later, you are _so_ wrong."

_**622. Anodyne-**_

Jack sighed as he applied the salve to today's wounds, pleased to feel the anodyne going quickly to work and numbing his pain.

He vaguely wondered how Chase would feel to know that the bruises _he_ caused were always bigger and darker than what the monks did to him, if less numerous; probably proud, happy that the thorn in his side was in pain.

The bloodied and battered teen sighed again, gingerly laying himself back against his mattress so as not to stir up any unnecessary pain as he drifted off into a restless sleep.

Chase Young watched Spicer sleep, eyes soft and half-lidded with sorrow; he _hated_ the Xiaolin for what they had done to the albino, but he hated _himself_ more for what he personally had inflicted.

He didn't _want_ to hurt the youth, but he hadn't been human in…a long time. He wasn't sure he remembered _how_ to love, and his inner-dragon _certainly_ didn't understand it, making him react as most creatures did when presented with something foreign: lashing out physically and verbally. But the warlord had recently felt as if he was beginning to relearn it, now, coaxed back into understanding by the affection Spicer lavished upon him.

There could be hope for his black heart, yet.

He could only pray that Jack would bear with him, endure the abuse just a _bit_ longer until he could at last give this love thing another try.

_**623. Diffident-**_

Chase had been complaining lately that he was too diffident and shy in bed; well, the _fuck_ he was gonna let _that_ shit go on!

Jack spared a glance to his lover, shackled with dragon-proof chains by the wrists and ankles to the bed, both naked and unconscious (he'd never guessed that the man would _actually_ succumb to a date-rape drug, but it sure as hell made things more convenient), and then to his own questionable leather attire and the various toys he'd obtained (including both a feather and something similar to a Taser for two very different types of torture) before allowing a devilish smirk to cross his features.

When Chase woke up, he would be taught a lesson that would assure he'd _never_ think of Jack as sexually-timid again…

_**624. Ascetic-**_

Chase had surprised even _himself_ when he encountered a young fox while hunting and found him sexually attractive. However, the wolf had never been one for an ascetic lifestyle, and had decided to take advantage of the opportunity while he had the chance.

Growling softly in pleasure as Jack made distinctively kittenish noises of contentment as he began to sleep against his chest, Chase decided that this fox (more of a vixen than a todd, really) might _actually_ be someone to keep around…

_**625. Loquacious-**_

Chase Young tired of Jack Spicer's loquacious demeanor.

Regardless of all those watching (as it _was_ the middle of a Showdown, after all), he hauled the goth in close and did what he'd been itching to do since they had met, silencing his incessant babbling with his own lips.

He was fairly pleased to note the abrupt _quiet_ and the instant use of tongue for more pleasant things than forming words.

_**626. Sophomoric-**_

"So, ehm, boys…care to explain…all this?"

"Psh, we don't have to explain shit to you, lady," Jacob scoffed, folding his arms over his chest.

Jackson, too, reflected this annoyed sentiment, huffing, "Seriously, why do you care about our love-lives? That's creepy."

Chase said nothing.

"I'm _concerned_," the principal emphasized, "because a…homosexual relationship is one thing, but _two_ seniors to _one_ sophomore is manipulation."

"The hell it is!" Jackson exclaimed at the accusation, standing from his chair simultaneously with his brother. "He's a big boy; he can choose whether or not he wants to be with us!"

"Well, be that as it may, boys-"

"He's a friggin' _sophomore_; he's not a n00b, he's a 'wise fool'!"

"Yeah, totally, watch this: hey, Chase, what's the square root of negative twenty-five?"

Without even pausing to think, the younger student immediately replied, "5i."

"Yeah, see, he's totally wise and stuff!"

"Stop!" the principal demanded of the twins before changing her tone to something pitying and sympathetic, "Chase, sweetie…how do _you_ feel about all this?"

Golden eyes locked firmly on the bespectacled woman and the boy stated with all the warmth of a glacier, "I am happy with my current circumstances, Ms. Lind. I enjoy having two boyfriends, regardless of their age, and neither need your interference, nor appreciate it in the least."

"Aww," Jackson cooed, putting an arm around the Chinese-American youth at the same time Jacob did.

"That means he loves us, lady," scowled the most-recently mentioned brother.

The principal watched as the two red-headed seniors leaned in and simultaneously kissed the sophomore on each cheek. Seeing as it appeared to be a voluntary relationship, there was nothing the woman could do but stipulate 'no PDA' and send the young men out of her office.

_**627. Refulgent-**_

The clothing Chase and Jack wore spoke of how unique each individual was, but only under one circumstance did the sets of clothes go with one another from a design standpoint: when the refulgent bronze of armor was half-obscured by the dark, black trench coat draped over it, both, of course, strewn haphazardly over the floor, they worked together perfectly.

_**628. Spurious-**_

"Spicer," Chase frowned, "did you eat the last five cookies from the jar?"

"How _dare_ you?!" Jack demanded in offense, "Your completely unfounded, not to mention utterly _spurious_, accusations insult me to the core!"

The warlord simply kept up the frowning stare.

"Okay, yeah, I did it."

_**629. Repine-**_

Jack had spent months, no, _years_ in complete and total repine for his idol, desiring his touch, his gaze, his voice, and his soul, despite the fact that the three he occasionally received had only caused him pain.

Imagine his surprise to discover that he'd had the whole _four_ all along and the pain inflicted had only been because of Chase's initial unwillingness to be so completely owned!

Thank god he'd gotten over all _that_ nonsense.

_**630. Perfidious-**_

"Chase, how could you?!" Jack exclaimed, eyes tearing slightly at the sight of Wuya's hand held tightly in his lover's; he had known that the witch was perfidious by nature and would want to ruin his happiness, but to have actually tempted _Chase_?

The warlord in question raised an eyebrow, checking reality briefly to confirm that he still held the red-headed woman in his grip over the edge of his mountain. "I was going to drop her," he informed his obviously-confused mate.

"Oh, that's okay, then," Jack shrugged, wandering back into the citadel.

--

**A/N:**

**I'm on a roll, lately, huh? See, I told you guys I'd settle into my classes! ;P**

**_Lucubrate-_ I thought the same thing as Jack did when I first saw that word, I swear to god. XD Defined as 'laborious study, meditation.'**

**_Anodyne-_ I like nearly-canon stuff. :) Defined as 'something that relieves pain, a soothing agent.'**

**_Diffident-_ I also likes me some sexually-assertive Jack. ;3 Defined as 'lacking confidence, timid.'**

**_Ascetic-_By request, defined as "practicing self-denial, Spartan."**

**_Loquacious-_ More could-be canon! Defined as 'excessively talkative.'**

**_Sophomoric-_ Continuation of _Twins_ in Chapter 43.**

**_Refulgent-_ Defined as 'brilliant, shining.'**

**_Spurious-_ Defined as 'false.'**

**_Repine-_ Yet another somewhat canon prompt. Defined as 'to long for something.'**

**_Perfidious-_ Defined as 'traitorous, betraying.'  
**

**ALSO, FANART/FANFICTION THING IS STILL ONGOING AND WILL BE UNTIL ANYWHERE FROM DECEMBER 6TH TO JANUARY 6TH. ANY AND ALL INFORMATION YOU SHOULD NEED IS, AGAIN, ON MY DEVIANTART ACCOUNT, ALONG WITH SOME THINGS PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY SUBMITTED IN CASE YOU WANT TO SEE THE KIND OF THING THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING. IF YOU INTEND TO PARTICIPATE, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THROUGH THE FAQ, EVEN IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE QUESTION; THE WHOLE THING SHOULD BE MORE HELPFUL TO YOU.**

**And there's _my_ little announcement of the day. XD However, that's the chapter for you, so hope you liked it! :D**


	64. Chapter 64

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**631. Caustic-**_

"Ew, its the fags," sneered Betty Meyers, tossing her long, blond hair and grinning smugly when all of her friends laughed.

"Oh, hey, its Betty-bimbo," Jacob acknowledged casually, smirking as she flinched.

"Y'know, Betty," Jackson wondered aloud, "I've got a theory about you, so maybe you could help me figure it out: I think you developed early, and because of all the attention it got you, you turned into a whore."

"And," the other brother continued, "due to that, you grew up with little to no sense of shame concerning your body and try to make the three of _us_, who have a heartfelt, meaningful relationship independent of age, sex, and looks, feel bad,"

"Because _your_ outer-beauty will fade by about age forty, leaving you completely unattractive to the shallow men you date and any chance of a relationship like ours will be zero because of the fact that you never bothered to develop a personality other than a bitchy, slutty idiot."

The until-that-point-silent Chase grinned sharply, showing that, though Jackson and Jacob were older and fairly cruel at tormenting this girl, he was the most cold-hearted and caustic of the three as he opined, "You, Betty Meyers, shall die an ugly, lonely, old _hag_."

Betty, needless to say, ran sobbing from the room, tears in her eyes.

As her toady-friends went after her in false concern, the twins curled their arms around their boyfriend, simultaneously complimenting, "Nice one, honey."

The sophomore smirked, using his hands to give both seniors a domineering pinch to the rear and reminding them just who was the bitch (or rather, bitch_es_) in the relationship.

"Not bad yourselves, Spicers..." he purred.

_**632. Cozen-**_

"Oh, Jack," purred Ashley as the goth genius stroked her behind the ears, kissing and sucking at her neck, "you're so good with your mouth! I can't believe I _rejected_ for so so long..."

"Thanks," the albino spoke, "cock-sucking does _wonders_ for your tongue-dexterity..."

This gave the young woman pause (because she was rather sure she wasn't being spoken of in that she was not in possession of a cock), but before she could outright question it, a cold, stiff voice sounded from the shadows.

"Speaking of which, Spicer," it chilled the somewhat heated air instantly, "shouldn't you be back to sucking cock right now? It has been _days_ since you last have."

Jack smiled at the warlord, greeting, "Hey, Chase; I'll do it right when we get home, I promise."

The blond watched as her very recent boyfriend (because Jack _really_ had a way with words when he begged) left her side to take Chase's.

"You are finished with this cozen, then?"

"Yup," the goth nodded, pulling a very important Wu Katnappe had won in a Showdown last week out of his pocket, "stole it when she was distracted."

"Very good, my mate," the warlord smirked, "you did well. For now, let us return home: the sight of your hands and mouth on her very nearly drove me mad, and I _must_ claim you."

"Trust me, hon, you've got _nothing_ to worry about," Jack snorted. "I wouldn't leave you for a feline-obsessed, bitch of a bimbo when I could have a feline-obsessed, bitch of a warlord, not even for all the pudding cups in the _world_."

Chase laughed. "I choose to take that as a compliment."

And with that, the two Heylin men were gone, leaving a very confused and betrayed-feeling Katnappe behind.

_**633. Plan-**_

Jack had been missing from his home all day, and by the time Chase had located him, it was late afternoon, and he was hiding beneath a small bridge in Europe.

"Spicer," he frowned at the bridge, refusing to bend down just to grant the genius the privilege of eye-contact, "what is it you're doing?"

"I'm hiding under this bridge," he said.

Chase folded his his arms over his chest. "I can see that," he growled, "_why_?"

"M'a troll."

The warlord sighed. "No, Spicer, you are not a troll."

"Yeah, I am," the goth protested, "I plan to go as one for Halloween!"

The immortal knew the way his lover's brain worked and simply wanted to end this quickly.

"If you're here under this bridge, how can you go trick-or-treating?"

"..."

Chase smirked as the albino crawled out from under the bridge.

"Alright, fine," he conceded, "but that means we're going with the Metalocalypse costumes; you shall be the Asian Nathan to my red-headed Charlie."

"Very well," the warlord accepted, to which the goth was momentarily silent.

"You're gonna teach me how to do a tie, right?"

_**634. Portent-**_

"What's wrong, baby?" Jack purred, seeing his lover already out of bed at an ungodly hour of the morning (even for him) and practically _glaring_ out the window.

"It is the fourth of April," he said.

"...so?"

"The year is 4444."

"Yeeeaaah...and?"

Chase turned to him, frowning. "Surely you are aware of the unluckiness of the number four in not only Chinese culture, but Japanese, Hawaiian, and Korean cultures? Today is possibly the unluckiest day in history, at least until the year _4_4444 comes along, and to one so tightly bound to magic like myself, this could be a portent of disaster, perhaps even my complete ruin."

The goth blinked at the warlord for a brief period of time before standing from the mattress and pulling the man back to their bed. "Alright," he began, straddling Chase's hips, "you clearly have tetrophobia, so I'm gonna fix it: today, I'm gonna fuck you four times each in whatever positions I can think of and consequently get to. Breaks will be short, and only for eating, bathroom, and power-naps. Why don't we start right now?"

After that day, Chase Young began to view the number four in a decidedly more positive light.

_**635. Reactant-**_

"Chase...its, its just so much _heat_, a pressure that builds and builds until finally- the _explosion_ at the peak..you know what I'm saying...?"

"Unfortunately," the warlord sighed, looking entirely bored, "I do."

"Good," the goth chirped, "its always useful to know what happens when dangerous reactants come together, just in case."

Chase sighed again; damn his mate for teasing him with his infinite naivety...

_**636. Bravura-**_

"Spicer," Chase growled in half-lost composure, both angered and thrilled by the inability to use his hands while at the goth's complete mercy, "where has this bravura stemmed from?"

Jack did not allow his rather busy hand's motion to slow and grinned darkly as he gently slid a sharpened blade across the bound man's collarbone, licking up the bit of blood that welled to the surface. "You said I was too timid," he reminded in a lusty purr, "so tonight, _you're_ going to be the sub to my dom, baby..."

The warlord's very _soul_ lit aflame with desire, and he doubted he'd ever been gladder to have so contradictory a lover.

_**637. Busker-**_

Jack was something of a busker, an entertainer at heart.

After all, that was the reason he'd crashed the Jade Emperor's shindig and caused a little chaos, then subsequently when he'd agreed to do battle with the one person at said shindig who hadn't seemed amused with him in an attempt to bring him joy.

He _loved_ to please.

It was nice to actually know he _could_ amuse and please his Jade Warlord, who had literally conquered the world and killed hundreds of thousands of people for his ultimate comfort as his queen, and with this thought, the Monkey King snuggled affectionately against Chase and prepared to sleep for the night.

He didn't necessarily like staying so still for so long, but it was for his Chase: he could manage it.

_**638. Compunction-**_

Chase had very nearly forgotten for what reason he'd needed Spicer, admittedly distracted by the sight of the teen on the the floor of his own bathroom.

The goth was entirely nude, his green towel having fallen and pooled around his waist when he slipped on a rubber ducky at his shock of the warlord's entrance, though his more intimate anatomy was hidden from his view due to the fact that the albino's legs were half-tucked beneath him and the aforementioned towel in the way.

Jack looked entirely _mortified_, too shocked to blush at the situation even as the dragon's heavy, golden gaze looked over his taut, young flesh with avarice, still glistening from the water of his bath.

At the sudden realization that Spicer was no longer a child, but a young man, now, a _beautiful_ young man at that, Chase decided that the device he'd wanted the genius to build for him wasn't all that important, and therefore felt no compunction upon practically pouncing on Jack and negating the goth's bath entirely by soiling him as thoroughly as a horny dragon is able.

_**639. Quandary-**_

There was only a shred of quandary in Jack's mind when the spellbound witch asked him if he was ready, and it was easily dispelled by the golden eyes watching him intently.

Yes, he was ready, the fairy knew, he was ready to be the right size to kiss Chase, to hold and be held by him, to germinate with him, to just be _with_ him.

The king visibly flinched as, at the flower spirit's nod of consent, the spell was put into effect, tearing a horribly pained scream from the excessively tiny creature.

In the name of Hell, Jack whimpered internally, there was _so_ much pain! His every nerve burned as if on fire, his bones and muscles growing and pulling excruciatingly, but the worst, by far were his shoulders: wave after wave of agony, as if an ongoing jolt of electricity, coursed through him as his translucent, little wings, useless to a larger form, were sacrificed for the transformation.

It seemed both a heartbeat and an eternity later when it all mercifully ended, and Jack collapsed like a stone to the floor, his body smoking slightly with magical residue.

Naturally, Chase was instantly by his side, cradling the limp form in his arms with something akin to concern. Wuya was bound by his orders and could not have attempted to kill the fairy, but that did not stop the human man's worry. "Jack," he addressed gently, "are you alright?"

He was answered with a very soft kiss to the lips, weak, but with definite affection. "You were right," the now-human Jack croaked, "kissing _is_ better now that we're the same size..."

As the physically-younger creature fainted out of a need to rest, Chase half-scoffed, half-laughed, lifting the currently-frail boy into his arms and carrying him to his chambers to recuperate.

_**640. Sidereal-**_

Chase Young remembered the days when he had thought Wuya beautiful.

It was a _very_ long time ago, before she had become a dried up, back-stabbing shrew, but yes, she _had_ been lovely. Obviously, he felt differently now, and such sentiments seemed no closer than the sidereal lights, but they _had_ been once.

The warlord spared a glance to his bed-partner, the red hair splayed across his pillow.

Were himself from a few years ago to walk in at that moment, he would likely be asked, 'Since when do you allow that _witch_ to sleep in your bed?'

He scoffed aloud at the very idea of offering her such a privilege, derisively snorting, "Wuya..."

"Wha?" Jack murmured sleepily, poking his head up from under the covers, "wha'bout Wuya?"

"Nothing, Spicer," he gently assured, "go back to sleep."

"M'kay, then..."

Chase Young gazed upon his lover fondly as the goth returned to slumber's embrace, knowing for sure that Jack Spicer was far lovelier than Wuya had _ever_ been to him.

--

**A/N:**

**_Caustic-_ Marked by incisive sarcasm; another follow-up of the Twin series: _Twins_ in Chapter 43 and _Sophomoric_ in Chapter 63.**

**_Cozen-_ To deceive, win over, or induce to do something by artful coaxing and wheedling or shrewd trickery; I got a request to mock the likelihood of Jacknappe ever occurring without some ulterior motive existing. If you like the pairing in addition to Chack, I don't mean to offend you, but I personally am not a fan of it, when there's far more evidence that Jack is, like, fanboy crazy for Chase. XD**

**_Plan-_ Matt's an idiot, and demanded I involve something with trolls under bridges. . While I remember, Happy Halloween, everybody! (I actually _am_ going as Charlie from Metalocalypse! Since I doubt anyone'll know the character by name and outfit, I'll just tell anybody who asks what I'm supposed to be the following: "I'm a lawyer; scary, isn't it?" XD)**

**_Portent-_ Something that foreshadows a coming event, an omen; the thing about the unluckiness of the number 4 in largely Asian cultures is true. It's like the number 13 for those of us in the States or wherever else 13 is seen as unlucky. I'm not totally sure where all of those locations are.**

**_Reactant- _-.-**

**_Bravura-_ A show of daring or brilliance; a continuation of _Diffident_ in Chapter 63, 'cause dominant-Jack is fun.**

**_Busker-_ A person who entertains; continuation of _Turpitude_ in Chapter 62.**

**_Compunction-_ A twinge of misgiving.**

**_Quandary-_ A state of doubt; continuation of _Flytrap_ in Chapter 9 and more recently, _Warns_ in Chapter 62.**

**_Sidereal-_ Of, relating to, or expressed in relation to stars or constellations, astral; no comment.**

**So, there's the long-awaited Chapter 64! :D**


	65. Chapter 65

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**641. Insolence-**_

Two years ago, Chase would have been enraged to awaken to a fanboy lying on top of him in the middle of the night, would have cursed and snarled at the brazen insolence displayed by the goth in believing he had any right to sleep upon one as powerful and magnificent as the warlord was without _explicit_ permission, much less having the audacity to _drool_ on him!

_My,_ the man thought to himself blankly, wiping the spittle off of his chest, _how things have changed._

Out of courtesy, Chase spread his legs a bit to allow the lower-half of Jack's body to rest more comfortably between them, burying his fingers in flame-red hair and going back to sleep.

_**642. Involute-**_

"Spicer," Chase began, eyes fixed on the orange, involute lines decorating the yellow-tinted plastic of the goggles he now held in his hands, "I demand you explain your fascination with these things. They're garish, odd, and just plain silly."

"Hey," Jack immediately protested, snatching his goggles back, "they're my trademark, like a symbolic kinda thing! Its like, I'm the only one in the world with a pair like them, so they're special to me, I guess." Looking frustrated, the goth replaced the goggles upon his brow, grumbling, "Its hard to explain to someone who doesn't get it."

"On the contrary," the warlord spoke, a bemused expression on his face, "I know exactly what you're talking about. I, too, have something like that."

"Really?" Jack inquired eagerly; he loved it when Chase shared personal things with him as it meant there was just one more thing about the man that only _he_ knew.

"Yes," his lover confirmed, idly crossing one leg over the other, "quite alike in nature to those accessories you're so fond of, actually: seen by most as garish, odd and just plain silly, but to me, it is beautiful and unique. No one else in the world has or ever _will_ have anything like it, and I can think of nothing that would convince me to surrender it."

Red eyes stared at him for the short silence that followed his words before a set of eyebrows and lips turned downwards in a scowl. "Do _not_ tell me you're gonna say all that and not tell me what it is," Jack accused.

Chase laughed, pulling his lover physically closer to him. "You truly _are_ oblivious, aren't you?" he snorted not quite derisively. "_You_ are my special thing, Spicer: there is no person or object I treasure above you."

_**643. Recondite-**_

It had always flattered Jack that his captain would occasionally stop in to watch him work. Said work was incredibly boring seeing as he was a map-maker, involving meticulous lines and angles to provide the most accurate map possible, and he was not known as "Sagacious Spicer" for nothing: every single map he made was perfect, centuries ahead of the skills of other cartographers of the time.

In fact, he highly doubted that the infamous "Dark Dragon of the East" would have taken him aboard were his skills any less!

He was honored at being chosen for the job, in complete awe that such a man would think him adequate to be in his employ and in even _more_ awe that he would occasionally make his way into the bowels of his fine ship simply to watch the hours upon hours of recondite work and calculations that went into a Spicer map, of which he was sure the captain had no great understanding.

Naturally, he was oblivious to the fact that Captain Young did not watch the motion of his slow, steady hands, but the rise and fall of his chest, partially exposed by his half-buttoned shirt (it got rather hot that deep within the ship), as he breathed, the man's hunger for the pure, white flesh growing slowly within him...

_**644. Salubrious-**_

Hazing slowly back into the world of the living, Jack couldn't help but moan at the familiar aching feeling consuming his body. His eyes fluttered open but almost immediately snapped shut again, all but blinded by the million-watt fluorescent lighting directly above his head.

About to sit up in the attempt to inspect his surroundings and perhaps move away from the miniature sun burning holes in his corneas through the lids, he was abruptly stopped.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a smooth, sophisticated voice spoke to him. "Your ribs are barely more than powder at the moment, and to move would not be at all salubrious." A shadow fell over him, blocking out a good deal of the light and allowing him to keep his sight and simultaneously open his eyes, which he then did.

Looming above him was a tall, male figure in a starch white coat; long, dark hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and the eye-color currently scrutinizing a clipboard was completely obscured by light glinting off the man's half-moon glasses.

For a moment, Jack could not produce so much as a sound from his throat, the only thought in his head being to heal _quick_ so he wouldn't be breaking the law if he asked this guy out. Eventually, however, he managed, "Um...thanks, that's a pretty helpful thing to know."

"You don't _deserve_ my help," the man snarled at him suddenly, causing the goth to flinch. "You've no idea who I am, do you?"

Jack shook his head 'no'.

"I am Chase Young, the director of this hospital, and you, Jack Spicer, make me _sick_." He slammed the clipboard to the bedside table and removed his glasses, revealing a brilliant gold hot with anger. "Six hospital admittances in two months' time. With a little digging, it _coincidentally_ seems that there have been the same number of domestic disturbance calls to the police in which your name was involved in the same time span. Do you really think that those around you are so blindly _stupid_ as to not know what's going on?"

Having nothing to say to this, Jack simply watched as Dr. Young snorted at him with a glare. "I've seen your type before, Spicer," he continued, "weak and _stupid_. You accept the very first person who will take you and make yourself into a complete doormat. No matter how little they care for you or how badly they hurt you, you won't leave them because you're too _afraid_ to be on your own." A large hand closed on the prone patient's chin, forcing his eyes to meet the other male's. "You're _pathetic_, Spicer," the man spat. "When will you get a _brain_ and find a man who won't _hit_ you?!"

Chase suddenly found himself stepping back in surprise as a kiss was placed on his lips, his anger completely derailed.

"If that was an offer," Jack grinned, "the position's open. Byron beat the crap out of me _this_ time _because_ I left him."

With little hesitation, the doctor moved forward again, initiating his own kiss with the smug murmur of, "Finally..."

_**645. Perspicuity-**_

"Chase," Jack spoke slowly, looking up from his book, "y…you wouldn't happen to know why Sir Gawain seems to actually by _kissing_ the Lord of the Castle instead of just _telling_ him he won a kiss, would you? And why the guy actually seems _happy_ about it?"

The warlord didn't look up from his own book, but answered, "Oh, _those_ two: Gawain and Bertilak. Trust me, Spicer they were some of the biggest queens you could ever meet."

"Wow, you actually _knew_ them?" the goth wondered, eyes bright.

"Don't be foolish," Chase scoffed, the perspicuity of his previous lie evident in his cynical tone, "of _course_ I didn't: that's only a tale, a _fictional_ one, I might add. I suggest you stop trying to discover homosexuality in King Arthur's court."

"Well, you know what?" Jack huffed. "This whole story's, like, one plot twist away from gay. I mean, if Gawain'd had sex with the dude's wife like she wanted him to, there would've had to have been some _majorly_ awkward buttsex, so _there_!"

_**646. Sop-**_

"Oh, _please_ spare us, your majesty," the foreign king sobbed pathetically, "our nation is in ruin already! I beg that you allow what is left of my people to live!"

Chase sneered at the man that all but licked his boots, scoffing, "And what reason might I have not to exterminate you _and_ your people like vermin?"

Clinging to the warlord's legs now in desperation, the man cried, "I'll give you _anything_ you want! My riches, my wives, my son; _anything_!"

The conqueror's golden eyes drifted slowly across the throne room, assessing the wealth that paled in comparison to his own and the women of a beauty he could _more_ than attract on his own.

"I've no want or need," Chase scowled, "for any sop you might offer…" His words trailed off as his eyes fell upon the final gift presented, his foe's only son.

The young man was…_stunning_. Chase had never lain eyes upon any that so embodied contrast with white skin against crimson hair and eyes, and he realized quickly that he wanted no other to have such a thing.

"I have had a change of heart," he decided, kicking the king away from his legs like the dog he was and slowly approaching the throne near which his desired prize stood. "I will concede to spare you and your worthless kingdom on the condition that the prince," he deftly took hold of a pale wrist, ignoring the nervous gasp that sounded from the boy, "is given to me as a goodwill gift."

"Oh, such a small price to pay!" the man joyously exclaimed. "Of course, you can have him!"

"Father?!" the young heir naturally gasped in horror. "Wh-what are you _doing_?!"

"The needs of the many outweigh the few, Jack," the king easily dismissed. "Your noble sacrifice shall not be forgotten."

Before the young man could protest any further, Chase tugged roughly on the boy's wrist, encouraging, "Come along, prince, I assure you that you shall be better appreciated in your new home."

_**647. Retinue-**_

"Y'know, Chase, I'm curious about something."

The warlord looked up from what he was doing, silently prompting his lover to continue.

"You're _way_ sexy enough to be a total pimp and have an entourage and bitches and everything, but you make do with me anyways."

Having stopped taking the sentence seriously at the word 'pimp', Chase snorted and turned away from the goth.

"Aw, come on," the red-head whined, "don't snub me…! I mean, I can't exactly see you wanting a bunch of infatuated women to follow you around or anything, but why do you let _me_ do it?"

"Because, Spicer," the man answered easily, "you are all the retinue I need."

_**648. Astringent-**_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Jack immediately stopped the conversation. "Whoa. Are you seriously telling me you've never tasted a _lemon_ before?"

"Yes, that is what I'm telling you, Spicer," the man informed casually. "What of it?"

"That's, like, _crazy_!" the goth exclaimed. "Not Joker-crazy or even that guy that broke into a house to film another guy masturbating at gunpoint and then killed the guy's dog by feeding it mushrooms-crazy, but _still_! I mean, how's that even _possible_?"

"I've never felt a need to," Chase explained with a frown, "so I have never had a lemon before. It is as simple as that."

"Okay, okay, just stay there; I'll be right back."

As Jack stood and left the room, the warlord was highly tempted to just get up and leave to prove that the boy's order had no power over him. Instead, he kept his seat and folded his arms, awaiting his lover's return and whatever he had in store.

Within a minute or two, Jack reentered the room with a knife from the kitchen and a lemon (from where and on such short notice, the man knew better than to inquire upon). The goth plopped gracelessly beside his lover and deftly halved the bright yellow fruit, laying one half on the coffee table and offering the other to Chase.

"Lick it," he encouraged. Naturally, the man arched an eyebrow at the command, but when the albino more humbly added, "For me?" he sighed and accepted the rinded fruit.

As the dragon lord acquiesced with his request and licked the lemon, Jack couldn't help but snicker a little; Chase had a great deal of self-control, but even _he_ could not suppress the extremely slight twitch of his lips in the instinctive action of trying to pucker at the astringent taste.

"I don't see the interest in such a sour fruit," the man decided, placing the lemon-half beside its brother.

"It's an acquired sourness, I guess," Jack shrugged, picking the halved lemon back up and licking it himself. "But at least now you're not a total freak of nature for never having tried it before!"

_**649. Untenable-**_

Chase had been unable to sleep. He'd been hoping the fresh air would calm him a bit, but two unfruitful hours later on the roof, and he was about ready to give up.

"Up here all by yourself, agapē?"

The teen flinched almost imperceptibly, but nonetheless kept his nonthreatening cross-legged position. "Wards were put up to keep you out," he said. "How'd you get here?"

A laugh met him. "You're not _really_ that naïve, are you? Like a ward will ever keep me away from you! Your precious temple is totally untenable where I'm concerned."

"Yes, well, get used to not coming here now," the Dragon of Darkness advised. "I'm leaving the Xiaolin temple in the morning." Though Chase couldn't see, he could imagine the expression of surprise on Jack's face behind him, a single eyebrow raised above the other.

"Why?" came the curious inquiry.

"Because," the teen snorted, "a monk's life isn't mine: I can't live this way."

The Xiaolin-in-training twitched as hands were placed on his shoulders, preparing for some sort of attack or dirty trick, but nothing happened; only hands on his shoulders. "Chase," the demi-god addressed for the first time since appearing, "you're a fighter at heart. The blood of a warrior courses through you veins and you want to _quit_? I really hope you're not doing this just to get rid of me. It wouldn't even work, I'd follow you anyways."

"Don't flatter yourself," Chase scoffed. "I'm leaving because there's nothing left for me to learn here. If I stayed, it'd only mean my talents going to waste."

"It's more than that, isn't it?" the man accused quietly, an icy tone in his voice. Chase found himself frozen suddenly, not by the tone but by _powerful_ magic. "You're beginning to _loathe_ your life here and all of the people in it, aren't you? Don't try to lie; I can feel it in your aura. You completely abhor your 'fellow monks': Omi's naïvety, Kimiko's fickle nature, Raimundo's arrogance, even Clay's utter wholesomeness is grating on your nerves. I'm willing to bet your lifestyle isn't helping all that much, either: rigorous training, endless chores and lectures, having to actually deal with the other monks, and what have you got to show for it? You're marginally stronger than you used to be. Big deal," Jack snorted, "your physical strength doesn't mean much to me when I can stop you in your tracks with a flicker of my power, and guess what? I didn't even need a Shen Gong Wu to do it, _and_ I didn't have to wash dishes and listen to mangled slang and 'rattlesnake in a pickle barrel' metaphors to learn it."

"N…no," Chase spoke softly, taking a moment to make his mouth work through the numbness enveloping his body, "I know what you're trying to do-"

"Of _course_ you do", the being laughed, "you're not the dullest crayon in the box, and I'm being about as subtle as a brick to the face. I'm going to be serious with you here for a minute: I don't have anything to offer you in the way of combat skills: physical force is not my thing. But, I can teach you my magic, at least. Keep _this_," he squeezed the teen's shoulder's in reference to the paralysis, "from happening again. In fact, you could learn to do it to other people and besides that, _much_ more. You're not dumb, so I'm thinking it'd only take a couple of months to teach you how to defy gravity and teleport and then maybe another week or two tops to get a handle on low-level telepathy and telekinesis. Strength is good to have, but with magic, too, you'd be practically unstoppable."

An extremely slight shiver of want coursed Chase's spine, and just as he was about to open his mouth to vehemently deny it, Jack chuckled, "No, don't you see? This is the problem with all this martial arts crap: it's focused around a whole lot of not thinking. Not thinking is _suicide_ for geniuses like us, Chase. You want what I'm offering because you _need_ the mental stimulation you get through learning magic to keep from losing your goddamn mind. If there's only one thing I can give you, it'd be mental stimulation with all the teachers I've had over the years: Socrates, Plato, da Vinci, Einstein, the best of the _best_, Chase. And speaking of the best of the best…" the man's lips hovered beside he's captive's ear as he purred, "I could easily pull some strings to get the best warriors and masters of history to teach you anything you want to learn about the art of combat, seeing as I can't do it myself. You could learn fighting styles that have long since been forgotten, be the _best_ that ever was and ever will be. Don't you want that, Chase? To be unbeatable, in strength _and_ magic? Last I checked, that was what you wanted, and I can give it to you _so_ easily…"

The Dragon of Darkness felt his will near to shattering and becoming dust in the wind. He'd been tempted like this before, but never one-on-one and never so convincingly. "…what do you want?" he questioned softly.

The demi-god scoffed. "You _know_ what I want, by now."

"As tempting as your offer is," the teen decided, "I won't agree to be your _whore_."

The entity laughed as if he'd just heard a joke, prompting Chase to snap, "And what, pray tell, is so funny about that?!"

"Your choice of words, agapē," Jack chuckled nuzzling at the paralyzed monk's neck. "You don't know much about the Greek concept of love, do you?"

Admittedly, this was true: all Chase knew of anything Greek was that Jack was of such an origin and had, as the man had said himself, 'ticked off Hades so bad that he was cursed to not die; big whoop.'

"Well, fine," the demi-god conceded, "allow me to fill you in: the Greek concept of love encompasses five different classifications. There's familial love, hospitable love, and friendly love; you aren't family, a guest in my home, or a member of my community obviously, so you don't fall under any of those categories. The other two are erotic love and spiritual love. If I'd wanted you for your body, I would have been calling you by the word for erotic love, érōs, all this time, now wouldn't I have?"

This gave Chase pause and slowly he realized, "A… agapē means-"

"Love," the man finished, clasping his arms fully around the youth's body, "in the spiritual sense; of the heart. I want you to join me, Chase," Jack said for what had to be the hundredth time, only now with an almost begging tone in his voice. "Not as my concubine, but as my partner, my _equal_. In a few short years, we could have the world on a _leash_: we could _rule_ together, Chase…"

There was silence for a long moment, and Jack feared he'd been rejected again. Then, "I wonder if I would have _you_ on a leash as well."

"I had assumed that would be a given," the demi-god smirked. "We'd be mutually exclusive to each other, of course."

More silence, then finally, "You make a persuasive argument, Jack. Very well, I concede to you: I shall be your apprentice."

The evil in the air grew heavier as Jack triumphantly laughed, "About damn time…"

Without warning, the two were gone, and it was at that moment that the world's destiny became utterly doomed.

_**650. Chary-**_

Once Clay Bailey had made that bet with the man in the bar, he'd sealed his fate.

"No _way_ ya' trained that snake," he'd accused, just a bit drunk and quite sure of himself, "those varmints're too dumb to train!"

The Chinese man, a glass of expensive scotch in his hand and a boa constrictor curled up in a pet carrier at his feet, had simply smirked, inviting, "Care to put your money where your mouth is?"

The wager had then been made: the snake-handler would allow his pet to coil around him, and should it attempt to crush him as was its nature, Clay would win $500. Should it remain benign, as the stranger had insisted he'd trained it to do, Clay would be the one paying the $500.

Being chary, the cowboy backed up a step as the massive reptile was allowed out of its cage, and he watched as its owner lifted the bulk of the creature onto his shoulders. He was certain he would win the bet as the mostly-white animal coiled around the handler's body, especially when it made a point of looping the man's neck; there was no _way_ that something with so small a brain would resist its predatory instincts!

But unfortunately for Clay, who saw the slight bunching of the snake's muscles and was just about ready to step in and pull the animal off the other man, the stranger grasped the constrictor just below the head and clucked his tongue as if in chastising. Immediately, the reptile's body loosened and its red eyes seemed to soften before its forked tongue darted out quickly to lick the man's cheek.

Frustrated at having made the losing bet but a man of his word, Clay handed over the money wagered and, knowing he was beaten, quietly left the bar.

Chase returned to his scotch, leaving his pet curled around his neck and chest and looking all but casual.

In his head, he heard, _Dude, you cheated._

The handler scoffed and mentally replied, **I did not cheat, Jack; I simply didn't let him know that I had a telepathic connection with you. Even if I had, he wouldn't have believed me and would have lost even _more_ by betting on that.**

_Still cheating,_ the snake insisted.

**You're simply upset because he called you 'dumb', earlier, aren't you?**

_…maybe…_

Chase smirked at that and held his glass up to his shoulder, where Jack's head rested. **Here,** he offered, **you deserve a drink for helping me win that bet.**

The boa constrictor slithered a bit further down to reach the alcohol and lapped at it gratefully. _Y'know, you don't really seem like the kind of guy who cons people out of money in rundown bars._

**True,** Chase admitted, **but you don't exactly seem like a snake who cares in the slightest.**

Jack hissed his amusement, pulling away from the glass and curling back upwards to nuzzle his master's cheek affectionately while his orange-red banded tail twined in the man's hair. _Ya' got me there!_

--

**A/N:**

**_Insolence-_ No comment.**

**_Involute-_ Curled spirally; fluffy, ain't it? :3**

**_Recondite-_ Difficult or impossible for one of ordinary understanding or knowledge to comprehend; pirate-Chack is in my head and there's totally not enough of it. I know Silvarbelle is working on it, but in the meantime, there is this. :D**

**_Salubrious-_ Favorable to or promoting health or well-being; abusive relationships are not cool. D: Thankfully, Chase is there to talk some sense into Jack for taking it, even if it was a useless lecture 'cause its _after_ he'd already broken up with the other dude. By the way, whenever people write about Jack with another guy, even me, it always seems to be a preppy name, like Byron, or Lance, or Sean. I wonder why? o.0**

**_Perspicuity-_ Plain to the understanding; I read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight awhile back in my literature class, and since I realize not all of you may have read it, here's my synopsis of it:**

**\/\/\/\/\/**

**  
****So King Arthur and his knights are sitting around, having dinner, and then this really huge green guy busts through the door with a giant axe and a holly branch and goes, "I wanna play a game!" :D And Arthur's like, "Um...okay, I'll fight you if you want-" "No, I wanna play a game!"**

**So then the knights are like, "Alright, what's the game?" And the guy says, "Okay, the game is that one of you cuts my head off with this big-ass axe, and in a year's time, you have to come find me and I'll do the same to you!"**

**"What are you, pussies?!"**

**Sir Gawain stands up and says, "Um, I'll do it; I'm the least important of you guys, and it doesn't matter if I die." (He's _extremely_ humble)**

**So, he takes the axe and cuts off the green guy's head. The guy picks up his head and says, "Okay, thanks; find me in a year so I can cut your head off!" and then the crazy bastard goes away.**

**Once it starts getting towards the end of the year again, Gawain sets off to find the guy and keep his word. He's traveling forever, and he gets tired, so he's like, "Agh, I wish there was a castle here I could rest at!" And then holy shit, a castle shows up! *gasp***

**So he goes into the castle and the lord and lady welcome him and everything, and then the lord's like, "Hey, while you're here, why don't we play a game?"**

**Naturally, I bet Gawain's thinking, "Aw, not this shit, again! :angry face:"**

**But so the game is that everyday, the lord and his men will go on a hunt and when they get back, they give Gawain whatever they won. In exchange, Gawain has to give the lord whatever he won in the castle that day.**

**On the first day, the men go hunting, and the lady of the castle shows up in Gawain's bed while he's naked and starts coming on to him. 'Cause he's just like that, he goes, "Oh, sorry, ma'am, it wouldn't be proper. You're very beautiful and gracious, but I can't disgrace you or your husband like that." But she kisses him and then leaves. When the men get back, the lord's like, "Hey, look, we caught a deer! :D" and Gawain apparently kisses the guy, because it says something to the effect of 'Gawain presented the lord with his winning of the day, the kiss he'd received from the lady of the castle.' The lord says, "Oh-ho-ho, and where did you win that in my castle? ;P" And Gawain replies with, "That wasn't part of the deal! XD"**

**Next day, same thing, only its a boar and two kisses, and then on the third day, the lady's like, "You should totally give me a token of your love for me. :3" And Gawain goes, "Sorry, I don't have anything to give you. o.o" So she says, "Oh, that's okay, I'll just give _you_ something! Here's a magical girdle that will keep you from dying!"**

**"... :INSERT-IDEA-LIGHTBULB-HERE:!" The lady kisses him three times and leaves again.**

**So when the time to exchange winnings comes, the lord gives Gawain a fox and Gawain kisses the lord three times but DOESN'T GIVE HIM THE GIRDLE. D:**

**So, having stayed there long enough and it being a year since the green knight thing happened, Gawain finally sets out to find him, and his house was only, like, a few hours away from the castle.**

**The guy's sharpening a new axe and he's like, "Oh, Gawain, you're right on time! So punctual! :D"**

**Gawain goes, "Can we just get this over with?"**

**"Sure thing!" So Gawain kneels down and gets ready to have his head chopped off, and when the green guy swings the axe, he flinches.**

**The guy stops and says, "Dude, you flinched; what kind of coward are you?"**

**Gawain says, "Sorry, my bad; I won't flinch this time, I promise."**

**He swings the axe again and Gawain doesn't flinch, so he stops before hitting him and says, "Wow, you're so brave, dude! That's awesome!"**

**"...can we do this thing?"**

**"Oh, right, right, chopping your head off! ;P" He swings a third time and only makes a small cut on Gawain's neck, prompting him to ask, "WTF?"**

**The green knight says, "SURPRISE! I'm actually the lord of the castle and this whole thing was a test of your knightliness organized by Morgan LeFay. Because you were totally honest in our first two exchanges, I missed twice, but because you lied about the girdle on the third day but were mostly honest, I nicked you a little bit."**

**Gawain gets totally hard on himself for being human and not wanting to die and tears off the girdle. "Oh man, I suck so hard! I'm such a total bastard, I fail at life and everything I do forever! D:"**

**The lord, who tell Gawain his name is Bertilak, is like, "Oh, dude, its cool."**

**"No," says Gawain, "it _isn't_! I lied about one little thing 'cause I was scared to die! I'm going to wear this girdle for the rest of my life as a sign of my ultimate failure!"**

**So, he goes back to Arthur and the knights, explains what happened, and then they all decide to wear girdles, too, as a sign of their ability to fail. I KID YOU NOT, THAT WAS WHAT WE WERE TOLD TO GET OUT OF THAT ENDING.**

**\/\/\/\/\/**

**And there's my summary of that. XD**

**  
_Sop-_ A conciliatory bribe, gift, or gesture; no comment.**

**_Retinue-_ A group of retainers or attendants; you kind of _have_ to stop taking a sentence seriously at the word 'pimp', don't you? XD**

**_Astringent-_ Causing contraction of soft organic tissues; the definition itself is a little oddly phrased, but the example of using it in a sentence Merriam-Webster gave was more understandable, being 'an astringent fruit.' Also, in case you're wondering, there actually is a documented newspaper article about those two guys and the dog; I found it somewhere on Failblog dot org, so if you want to see it, go there and search 'WTF fail.'**

**_Untenable-_ Not able to be defended; continuation of Sandman in Chapter 21, in which Chase finally comes to his senses. He was never meant to be good. That man (or, in this case, teenager, I guess) was always destined for evil.**

**_Chary-_ Hesitant and vigilant about dangers and risks; Jack's been referred to as a snake several times before by various people: I have made it literal. I decided I wanted him as a boa constrictor, because A) it would mean he'd be bigger and easier to cuddle with and B) if he would ever kill someone in real life, I figure it would be by crushing them to death via hugging. XD Also, as far as what albino boa constrictors look like, search 'constrictors unlimited albino boa constrictor' on Google and its the first link. Just so you know what they look like so my description of snake-Jack makes sense. ;P**

**FINALLY. I have finally gotten around to finishing this. All I can say is sorry for the wait, and hope you liked it! :D**


	66. Chapter 66

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

--

_**651. Limn-**_

The strokes of Jack's pencil were sure and steady as they sketched the rough draft of his soon-to-be masterpiece, the eraser not once used as of yet and the stick of graphite only pausing as he glanced up at his subject. He did not look up out of necessity of seeing his subject: he could have limned the entire work with only a single glance at the stunningly beautiful man, his image already burned into his brain for eternity.

No, Jack merely looked up now and again for the _want_ to see him.

"How long do you believe this will take, Spicer?"

The artist looked up at the inquiry; at the wealthy aristocrat who'd employed him for a portrait. "Not much longer, Lord Young," he promised. "I'm mostly done with the…well, I guess you could say 'blueprints.' Once I finish them, you can go and I'll add the actual paint later and send word so someone can pick it up for you when it's done."

Chase raised a curious eyebrow. "You do not require my presence for the rest? How will you recall the appearance of the lighting upon me, or the precise color of my eyes?"

"I'm good with that kind of thing," Jack shrugged, using his pencil to delicately touch up the shell of the ear that had smudged beneath the heel of his palm. "I can remember things I see really well, so I just need the basic outline of whatever I'm drawing down on paper to be able to remember what colors go where later."

The noble smirked at him, pleased by such a statement. "It is good to know," he said, "that the small fortune I am paying you is justified."

The artist casually turned back to his sketch with a bemused grin, lightly shading a spiky forelock of hair as he chuckled, "Well, I _have_ to be good at what I do, you know. If I wasn't a good painter, I couldn't even afford the tools of the trade, much less this shack I call home."

Chase glanced around and made a noise of consideration. "By the looks of your 'shack', I take it you have not been signed to a patron?"

"Nope," Jack replied, eyes not leaving the canvas, "I take work as it comes from whoever it comes from, and hope it keeps a roof over my head."

"Then I shall sign you."

The tip of Jack's pencil splintered. "Wh…_what_?"

Chase's serious, level stare did not leave him, and he explained, "I have yet to have an artist in my employ, and you are the first I have heard of whose skills are even _rumored_ to be as I desire in such an occupation." The lord glanced at the perfect sketch of himself, feeling as if he had finally been done justice through artistic medium. "As it seems that the rumors hold true, I wish to make your skills mine before some other noble finally obtains the sense to do so."

The young artist dazedly removed the errant line that'd been formed when his pencil broke; the thick, black imperfection coming off of his drawing's shoulder before taking a nearby blade and whittling a new point for his implement.

As he did so, he spoke, "Wow, that's…I'm honored, I mean, I never thought I'd get signed to a lord, much less one as powerful as _you_! That's…_wow_…"

"You shall come to live in my household," Chase decided. "I shall not have anyone in my employ working in squalor. I will see to it that any tools you need to create whatever I ask of you in the future are available, of course. When you complete this current portrait, do not send word of it: bring it to my home yourself. A room shall be prepared for you by then."

Jack stood abruptly and grasped the man's hand, shaking it vigorously. "Thank you, Lord Young," he said, ecstatic. "I promise you won't regret this!"

Several minutes later, Chase exited the young man's shack, entering his waiting carriage. He _did_ hope he didn't have to wait too overly long to get that work of art into his home…and that painting would look nice in the foyer, as well, he supposed.

_**652. Redoubtable-**_

Jack had almost been positive that he would at some point regret the decision to stay here; sure that this eerie, redoubtable abode would quickly make him wish he'd never agreed to remain. To find this untrue of himself was surprising.

In actuality, it seemed that the longer he lived in this house where he was destined to die, the _happier_ about it he felt.

The goth took that moment to stretch leisurely upon the aged bed, enjoying the feel of the silken, violet sheets on his body. A coldness settled around him and he smiled as a voice in his head inquired, _"Enjoying yourself, Spicer?"_"

"Actually yes," he answered pleasantly. "Only another week before the thing, right?"

Chase snorted. _"You mean the lunar eclipse,"_ the poltergeist stated rather than asked.

"Yeah, that thing," Jack agreed. "So how's this gonna work, anyway?"

The young man felt his deceased companion's spirit flood into his body and, without even bothering to fight Chase's control, he stood from the bed and walked over to the dresser, looking at his own reflection in the mirror. His image split suddenly, becoming a grey-blue wisp of a man, the man he had quite fallen for. Chase was only visible to the naked, human eye through mirrors, and even then, it was only a vague suggestion of an outline.

It really wasn't enough to appease the lovesick teenager's desire to actually _see_ the man he was in love with.

_"When the time comes,"_ the apparition said, _"all you will have to do is take your own life while standing upon an alchemic circle that I will show you how to create."_

"An alchemic circle?" the goth wondered. "You mean like in Fullmetal Alchemist?"

The poltergeist's face was too faded and blurry to make out an expression, but a fluctuation between warm and cold in the air beside the mortal told him that Chase was feeling confusion, and Jack sheepishly amended, "Like a transmutation circle?"

_"Yes,"_ the ghost agreed. _"Why do you wish to know so early? You've still a week left of life, Spicer: why do you seem so eager to die?"_

"'Cause I'm excited," the youth admitted with a smile. "We can actually be together, _finally_. Aren't _you_ excited?"

Though surprised, Chase found himself grinning back ,slipping his arms around the living goth in such a way that though he was intangible, it got across the point of an embrace.

_"Yes, Spicer,"_ he charmingly assured, _"I am **very** excited…"_

_**653. Divination-**_

Chase found himself roaring in fury at the indignity of being captured, struggling fervently upon the cold, stone floor of this dungeon in his bonds of metal and magic. It was useless, with his limbs pinned tightly to the rest of his long, serpentine body by silver bands, but his pride as a dragon would not let him cease his fighting until he was _certain_ it would not yield freedom.

"I wouldn't bother, if I were you." The large beast paused at the voice and looked up, a pale human in dark robes standing before him with a pitying expression.

"And what would you know of 'being me'?" he challenged. "You are not an imprisoned power, boy!"

"I'm not?" the human inquired, baring his throat to display a tight, silver collar akin to the ones restraining the large beast on the floor. "That's weird, 'cause Lord Bean doesn't keep anything under his power that isn't useful to him, and if I don't have a power, I must've gotten this on me by accident."

The dragon snorted at the patronizing comment, a black puff of smoke escaping his nostrils. Realizing his displeasure, the boy ceased the tone of condescension and explained, "I'm an oracle; I see the future and such. Of course," he chuckled dryly, kneeling to Chase's level, "I don't need divination to know there's no way I'm getting out of here. Neither are you, by the looks of it."

The dragon rumbled a noise just short of a roar. "And what, pray tell, does that power-hungry fool want with me?!"

The young man shrugged. "Hell if I know."

Chase snorted. "Did you not just proclaim yourself an oracle? What sort of oracle _are_ you that cannot even foresee what your captor has in store for me?!"

"The kind of oracle whose powers are blocked by this fucking collar," the human informed, "same as those bands on you; they keep us from leaving this castle, too, just so you know. Point being, I can't see the future unless Hannibal lets me."

The beast huffed his annoyance and, finding the seer useless to him, turned away.

"…So, you're a real Oriental dragon, huh?" the human inquired, breaking the silence. "I've never seen one for real: only in pictures and books."

Despite himself, the dark-scaled dragon glanced back to the youth, eyeing him with sharp, golden eyes. "And how does the real thing hold up to the drawings, boy?" he wondered.

"At least ten times better," the mortal answered with an admiring grin. "I never _seen_ a dragon as beautiful as you are."

Pleased, Chase gave a toothy grin. "At last, a human with enough taste to favor _my_ kind over those ugly beasts Europeans call 'dragons'! Perhaps I misjudged you…"

Said human smiled and introduced, "My name's Jack, and now that the ice is broken and you probably won't eat me, I've got a plan; to get us out of here, I mean."

"You may call me Chase," the dragon said simply.

"Cool," the newly-proclaimed Jack grinned. "So, do you wanna hear me out on this, or…?"

"I do," Chase answered, "but how can escape be possible? You said yourself that neither of us _could_ leave here."

"Ah, true," the oracle winked, "_individually_. By ourselves, we've got about as much chance of getting out of here as there is for a block of ice to spontaneously combust, but together, there's no way we _can't_ escape."

"How can you be sure?" Chase inquired.

"I _should_ be sure," Jack said. "I prophesized it myself, after all."

"And of course, Hannibal _allowed_ you to foresee your chance at escape?" the dragon wondered skeptically.

"Hell no," the human admitted, "but you know, sometimes he asks me freebies; stuff that's so _amazingly_ obvious that I don't need to invoke _anything_ to just guess it right. Two weeks ago, he let me use my powers to tell him if there was going to be a queen in his future." At the look he received from Chase, he scoffed at the notion in agreement, "I know, right? I just looked for anything in Fate's plan that might've let me get the hell out of here instead and made up some bullshit about any queen he could take leading to his downfall. I saw you getting captured and I followed a 'what-if?' thread based on what could happen if we teamed up: if we do, there's literally no way we _can't_ succeed."

"That _does_ sound quite promising, human," Chase mused quietly. "And is there any possibility in Fate's plan of Hannibal escaping _us_?"

"Not a one," Jack promised. "No matter which of the eight billion or so ways this could go that end up actually happening, the rotten fuck dies under your claws, screaming bloody murder for mercy."

That clinched it for the dragon. "I shall cooperate, seer," he said. "I will not sit idly in chains when the possibility to so easily end and revenge my captivity lies so plainly before me."

Jack smiled brightly in response. "Awesome. I should leave soon, though, because getting caught talking to you will mean another month or so before we can do this, but I'll be back tomorrow and we can work out a plan, then."

Somewhat awkwardly due to his bound limbs, Chase managed to coil his long body up into a ball, laying his snout lazily upon the tip of his tail. "Then I shall see you tomorrow night, Jack," he sighed languidly, idly blowing another puff of smoke from his nostrils. "Kindly do not get caught."

The oracle daringly reached out a hand and brushed his fingers along the dragon's dark-scaled head, giving the farewell of, "See ya' then, Chase."

As he left, he was quite proud at keeping it to himself that all possible realities he had scanned inevitably ended up with him and the dragon hooking up romantically.

_**654. Cherubic-**_

Chase sighed in exasperation as a screeching wail assaulted his ears and immediately, he reappeared in his den to find the tiny baby he'd left upon the couch only moments ago huddled against the reddish fabric, whimpering in sheer terror.

The source of such terror? A curious jaguar sniffing at him a bit too closely.

"Diol," the warlord snapped, "stop it! You're frightening him."

The feline obediently backed away, watching as his master plucked the quivering child off of the plush cushions. _"What is this child?"_ Diol inquired. _"What is it doing here, master?"_

"Can you not tell by his scent?" Chase's hand rubbed soothingly along the infant's back, pleased to hear the tearful whimpers quiet. "Spicer stumbled into the path of a Shen Gong Wu and had about eighteen years rewound off of his life," he explained. "Luckily, the state is temporary: he should revert to his normal age in a few more hours."

The feline warrior padded around to the other side of the warlord in order to get a better look at the little boy who'd buried his face in the man's inky, black locks. _"Even so young,"_ he commented, _"he seems very affectionate towards you."_

Chase moved Jack a bit away from him, blankly inspecting the cherubic, little face of his diminished lover. Ruby red eyes lit up at his gaze and the evil far-too-much-of-a-boy genius smiled trustingly at him, happily burbling nonsense.

Despite himself, the warlord smiled back, agreeing, "I am lucky to have one so devoted."

_**655. Snuzzle-**_

Chase growled in severe annoyance as a sharp beeping interrupted his sleep. "Spicer," he hissed to his bed-partner, "_what_ is that infernal noise?"

"Wu detector," the goth mumbled sleepily, blindly groping at the bedside table until he retrieved his beeping watch to stop the noise.

"Which Wu is it?" the warrior impatiently demanded.

Squinting blearily at the brightness of the screen, Jack's eyes managed to make out the words displayed (but only barely). "Uh, the Olley Octagon?"

The watch was deftly plucked from his hand and placed back on the bedside table, and the youth abruptly found himself pulled back to bed. "We're not gonna get it?" he wondered.

"It is useless, Spicer," Chase huffed, pinning his lover authoritatively to the mattress with his body. "It merely possesses the power to turn objects upside down; it does not even work on anything bigger than a hippopotamus. We have no need for it."

"We're not even gonna get it just so those losers can't have it?" he questioned, even as he made himself comfortable amongst the bedding.

Golden eyes, clearly incensed and exhausted, glared at him in the darkness. "It is _two_ in the _morning_: I am evil, Spicer, not _Beelzebub_."

The goth laughed. "That's fine," he conceded, giving Chase a quick peck on the cheek, "I'd totally rather stay here and snuzzle with you anyways…"

_**656. Sybarite-**_

"You aren't much of a sybarite, are you, Spicer?"

Jack looked up at his lover, finding he really liked the way the lights of the mansion looming before the two of them illuminated the man's golden eyes and the green highlights of his hair even in the darkness of the night. "Not really," he admitted. "How'd you know?"

The warlord grinned at him in that sexy, crooked way he had. "If you enjoyed finery," he teased, "you would not wear such a quality suit as if it were made of burlap and irritated your skin."

The goth flushed almost imperceptibly, consciously forcing an end to his fidgeting. "I don't like getting dressed up, okay?" he excused. "I'm only doing it _this_ time 'cause mom _begged_ me. Y'know, that and the chance to see you in a suit." He eyed his lover's strong, lean form pleasantly displayed by the change of clothing. "Mostly that one," he admitted heatedly.

The man chuckled at that, assuring, "Whatever enjoyment you get out of my current appearance, I am receiving it tenfold from yours. Despite your discomfort, you look quite charming in that tuxedo; so much so that I am considering dressing you up in fine clothing on a more regular basis."

"Oh, no," Jack moaned, "don't do _that_…"

"It is my right to dress you up, Spicer," Chase asserted. "You are mine to do with as I please. But we will discuss it later. I am not _completely_ unreasonable, after all. For now, let us make the most of the gala: I find myself very much wishing to dance with you."

Jack smiled and allowed his beloved to take him by the arm, following obediently as the man began leading him to the door of the mansion.

"Sounds good to me," he grinned, "you know, so long as you don't make me tango: I can't tango for shit."

_**657. Prolix-**_

"Whatcha doin', Chase?"

The warlord did not look up at the bright, chirp of an inquiry, but answered, "Concocting a potion. Since Wuya is gone and the troublesome watch of yours is on the fritz, we can use this to find and locate future Shen Gong Wu."

"Aren't 'find' and 'locate', like,the same thing?" Jack wondered.

Chase made a noise of acknowledgment and conceded, "Yes, I suppose the phrasing of that was a bit prolix…"

"For that matter," the goth argued, "why say 'prolix'? Isn't 'wordy' good enough?"

The man frowned. "Well, I suppose not all of us can use idioms as you so frequently-"

"Idioms? Why not say 'slang'?"

"Enough, Spicer," the warlord snapped. "Leave so that I may work without your nitpicking!"

Jack chuckled. "All right, all right, I'm outta here," he snickered, "you know I just _love_ messing with you about your atypical vocabulary, though!"

_**658. Bedizen-**_

"Spicer, may I ask _what_ it is you believe you're doing?"

The goth looked up from his task, but only briefly. "Chase, you _knew_ when we first moved in with each other the kind of guy I am; you _know_ the consequences of not continuously keeping me entertained, and this is the price."

"Be that as it may," the warlord growled, "no warrior is meant to wear bedizenment of the nineteenth century!"

"That's _your_ opinion," Jack asserted, straightening the white Bengal's tiara and turning to the black jaguar beside her. "I say Diol's _rocking_ that top hat; Bella agrees, don't you, girl?"

The female tiger gave an encouraging purr, eyeing her dressed-up companion appreciatively. As the jaguar straightened, suddenly finding a new affection for his clothing, Chase couldn't _help_ but facepalm.

_**659. Doggo-**_

"Ohhh, Chase, look: a _turtle_!"

The man paused as his movement was impeded, the owner of the hand he held in his own abruptly stopping. He followed the youth's gaze to the pet-store window before inquiring, "A turtle, Spicer? Your attention is captured by the _turtle_ and not the large box of puppies yipping and playing _beside_ the turtle?"

"Turtles are cool," Jack protested, "besides, just _look_ at it!"

Chase did so, seeing the small, green creature scrunched up into its shell and squinting at the puppy-box from under a plastic leaf. "What of it?" he inquired.

"Observe how the predator lies doggo," the goth answered in a pseudo-British accent, "reserving its energy as it watches its prey, waiting for _just_ the right moment to _pounce_!"

The warlord scoffed. "I highly doubt a _vegetarian_ reptile will be pouncing upon anything, Spicer, much less twelve or thirteen canines that could devour it whole."

"Oh no?" Jack challenged. "It's just waiting 'til there are no witnesses." He turned his back to the store window and forced his lover to do likewise. "You'll see: those puppies don't stand a chance against that turtle."

Chase jerked his arm away from the youth's and turned back to the window, frowning, "Now you are just being ridic…u…lous…"

The box was empty of puppies, and the turtle had left its shell; licking its beak of what looked like a tuft of fur.

"You were saying?" Jack smugly wondered.

There was a long, silent moment.

"I believe we should purchase that turtle," Chase said eventually.

"Yeah, I'm thinking maybe we should," his lover agreed with a grin.

_**660. Angst-**_

Chase frowned to see Jack curled up at the edge of the bed, trying to stay as far away from him as possible.

"Spicer," he spoke, displeased to see the startled flinch that meant the genius had been _deep_ in his thoughts, "what, pray tell, are you doing over _there_?"

For some reason, Jack took this in a very odd way and practically scrambled off the bed, beginning to collect his clothes. "I'm sorry, Chase," he said in a hurried tone, "I didn't mean to-I'll just…I'll just leave-"

"Drop the underwear and get back on the bed," the dragon ordered, one of his strangest orders to date to be sure. Nonetheless, the black skull boxers were obediently dropped to the floor and the albino quickly retook his place on the very edge of the bed.

"Now," Chase sighed, "I want you to tell me whatever nonsense is running through that thick skull of yours right now and causing you to act like a neurotic squirrel."

Jack made a noise suspiciously like a whimper but admitted, "I'm scared…I'm scared that you don't…want me. That this is just all some big mistake and that you didn't really want to have sex with _me_-"

Chase cut him off with a snort. "There is no _possible_ way that I could have pretended or confused _you_ with someone else. I invited Jack Spicer, glorified mechanic and bumbling fool into my bed, and I can tell you right now that I am beginning to become annoyed that he is not actually _in_ it at the moment."

Jack scooched another half-inch onto the bed at that, thusly causing Chase to frown.

"Closer than that," he specified.

Another half-inch.

"_Closer._"

Yet another half-inch.

Fed up with such nonsense, the warlord abruptly seized the albino and hauled him in as close as he wanted, ignoring the squeal of surprise and holding the boy right up against his chest before trapping him beneath the covers. "Now that's more like it," the man smugly commented with a sharp grin.

After a little while of uneasy cuddling, the goth quivered out, "Y…you're not gonna…fuck me again?"

The dragon chuckled and tightened his hold on Jack. "Oh, I _will_ fuck you again, Spicer," he assured, "many times; know now that that is a most certain fact. But that is not all I shall ever want from you: now, what I want is for you to sleep with me in a non-carnal sense."

Jack made a soft noise of uncertainty and Chase knew the young genius was still considering all sorts of negative possibilities as to why the man had courted him in the first place. Chase scoffed and put an end to that with a kiss to the goth's forehead that could've almost been called affectionate, stroking one of his big hands soothingly along the length of his lover's back.

Within minutes, the previously-tense Jack was sound asleep, and the dragon gave a rough sigh, settling down to join the boy in such a state but not before an agitated murmur of, "Damned teenage angst…"

--

**A/N:**

**_Limn-_ To draw or paint; I think this was inspired by a recollection of my World Studies class last year, when we were talking about the Italian renaissance...or at least I think that's what it was. I could be wrong, but as I remember it, during the Italian renaissance, rich people essentially paid artists to make pretty things, and some of the richer ones played patron to those artists. Again, this was last year, so I have NO CLEAR RECOLLECTION of the actual facts, but I think that's what happened, so... .**

**_Redoubtable-_ Causing fear; by request, a continuation of _Supernatural_ in Genres of Chack, but even without reading that one, I think you can understand what's happening here. Also, before anyone asks, I WILL continue this one at some point! :)**

**_Divination-_ Random idea that came to me; I really don't know where it came from, but...meh. .__. I'll probably write more on this one later, too.**

**_Cherubic-_ No comment.**

**_Snuzzle-_ If anyone's wondering, there IS a reason for the mention of the hippo. Matt is in love with hippos ever since The Lion King II where there's a hippo in a song with a really deep voice and then recently, he found this song about a hippo with noodles on his back, and...ANYWAY, the point is that the mention of the hippo was for him. XD**

**_Sybarite-_ A person whose chief interest is luxury; no comment.**

**_Prolix-_ Marked by or using an excess of words; Jack's just being annoying to be annoying! XD**

**_Bedizen-_ To dress or adorn gaudily; I'm so uncreative: I came up with two specific cats for Chase to have and just keep reusing their names. Go ahead and look: all throughout Anthology, Bella and Diol keep popping up, and I only recently decided to let Diol have an out-of-Anthology cameo! Either way, I think he totally _would_ rock a top hat. CX**

**_Doggo-_ In hiding; the turtle ate those puppies! D: This was actually inspired by this turtle that started living in my AP Biology room; its always squinting at me like its going to eat me, and then I realized that actually might make a funny Anthology idea! XD**

**_Angst-_ Funny story about this one: it was actually going to be part of Genres of Chack, but I didn't really think it was in the _genre_ of angst. Based off of it, certainly, but not in the genre of it. So...I saved it and put it here! :D**

**But in any case, that's Chapter 66 of Anthology of Love, and I hope you guys liked it! :)**


	67. Chapter 67

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't mine.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--  
**

_**661. Lionize-**_

"Chase?"

The young man was almost immediately rewarded for his hesitant call with a softly-spoken, "Yes, Spicer?" from the mouth settled near his shoulder.

"I love you," he stated sincerely. The warlord half-awoke at that and glanced up at his lover in the darkness, giving him careful inspection before causing his Jack to inhale sharply as the man quite suddenly dipped his head to nuzzle the pale column of throat, then rolling over onto his back and pulling his beloved's smaller body on top of him as he did so.

The youth positively _loved_ the way Chase treated him ever since he's had his transformation; lionized him and practically handled him as if he were a precious object made of glass, or better yet, an _actual_ butterfly, with frail wings and a brittle body. It made him feel exceedingly special to be treated that way by one he so idolized, but he couldn't help but _dread_ that such treatment and affection stemmed _only_ from his metamorphosized appearance.

"Spicer," the man rumbled in a low tone that set the insect's heart to racing, "I know what you are thinking, and it is wrong. Despite the fact that you have become exceedingly lovely, that is _not_ the reason I have taken you as mine. I can assure you that _no_ beauty is worth an undesired personality."

Jack made a curious noise in the back of his throat, to which his lover explained, "I had interest in you _before_ you changed. The problem was that you _annoyed_ me with your wishy-washy behavior and nonsensical choices, and that is why this, _we_ did not happen sooner. I'd no idea that you had no real control over yourself, or that you were locked into an uncomfortable, childhood body that confined you and made your actions troublesome, as if a cry for help. Had I known that it was only a matter of time before you were comfortable in your own skin and able to be as you were meant to," the warlord purred, reaching up _just so_ to tongue at his butterfly's milky, white throat, drawing a musical gasp and an attractive blush from him, "I would have waited _with_ you for it to happen instead of being pleasantly surprised to find you, the _real_ you, laying so invitingly on my bed."

The youth could actually _feel_ his cheeks reddening, and he softly inquired, "Do you…do you really mean that, Chase?"

"No," Chase answered sarcastically. "I simply said all that drivel because I enjoy making up nonsense motives to my actions and then explaining them very late at night when I would otherwise be sleeping."

Jack found himself grinning despite the fact that he'd very nearly been called stupid. "I still love you," he reiterated, nuzzling his cheek against the man's shoulder.

"And I love you, Spicer," the warlord promised. "Now for the love of all that is Unholy, it is three in the morning: _sleep_."

Jack had no complaints.

_**662. Ephemeral-**_

Jack was, for the first time throughout this whole thing, _nervous_.

His heart was beating quickly in his chest and he was working hard to keep his breathing at some semblance of normal so that Chase would not comment on it. If his palms weren't so covered in chalk from drawing the huge circle he was standing on, he was sure they would be dripping with sweat.

Talk really _was_ one thing: doing it was quite another.

_"You **can** go through with this, can't you, Spicer?"_

The goth flinched at the unexpected sound and the dagger he held in his hands nearly clattered to the floor in surprise. "Yeah," he answered quickly, "yeah, I can…I can do it…"

_"Good,"_ his ephemeral infatuation stated. _"I would hate to have to wait several **more** centuries for a companion of any kind, if not my **ideal** partner, to be possible because you are too coward to take the coward's way out."_

Jack swallowed hard, his hands trembling a bit as a forced laugh escaped his throat. "Yeah, th-that'd suck, huh? H-how much time again until I actually have to-"

_"Two minutes,"_ Chase casually informed. _"You are clearly nervous, Spicer; must I possess your body to make sure you do this?"_

"Maybe," the goth sheepishly admitted. "I'll still try, though."

The poltergeist chuckled at him. _"And you seems so eager for this before…Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself-"_

"_Don't_ quote Shakespeare to me," Jack pleaded. "I don't know if you remember, but some pretty bad shit happened to the guy who listened to that particular bit of advice."

Chase was invisible to him, but the young goth the distinct feeling the ghost was grinning at him as he teased, _"And yet the brief mention of another topic has calmed you a bit."_

"…shut up."

The poltergeist easily laughed the insult off. _"Well, Spicer, now that you are relaxed enough to say such daring things, I would suggest holding the dagger in proper position: it is almost time."_

Obediently but with hands shaking just a bit more visibly, Jack raised the knife; the sinfully-sharp tip pressing just against his Adam's apple only to stop as Chase scoffed at him. "Wh-what?" he demanded quietly.

_"I realize you enjoy the melodramatic, Spicer, and I understand your desire to please me, but I have to insist that you don't slit your throat."_

"Well…why not?" the goth wondered, nerves still feeling quite electrified.

_"Because,"_ the ghost knowledgeably informed, _"it will be ineffective for what we are doing here."_

"Wait, what the hell are you talking about?" Jack protested. "I can't _not_ die that way, and that's what we're aiming for!"

_"That may be true,"_ Chase allowed, _"but it would be a death by suffocation: it would feel a **painful** eternity to you, not to mention that it would almost certainly exceed the allotted time in which you must die for this to work. If I may, I'd suggest your heart: much quicker and so instant that it will be painless to you."_

The goth sighed in trying to calm himself and lowered the knife to his chest, glancing up to the spot he knew Chase was for some kind of assurance.

_"Hold the blade flat,"_ he advised, tone gentler upon sensing the boy's great deal of fear, _"else it could catch on your ribs. It would, again, be painful **and** you could survive."_

Jack followed the advice, his eyes instinctively falling on the grandfather clock in the dark, dank basement of the abandoned mansion.

It was half a minute to midnight.

_"I ask again, Spicer: are you positive you can go through with this?"_

The youth kept silent until the clock denoted five seconds left and then he swallowed hard.

"I'm sure," Jack said confidently, the dagger firmly and fluidly slicing through flesh and between bone to flawlessly pierce his heart.

_**663. Asunder-**_

"No…" Hannibal growled in a whisper of dread at the sight that met his eyes in the darkness.

His ghost-like oracle leaned against the frame of the doorway to the lord's bedroom, throat absent of a collar and a ring of keys dangling tauntingly from one finger.

"Wuya snagged 'em for me," Jack said with a smirk, "after I promised her your castle and fortune once you were out of the way. I _warned_ you about taking a queen, didn't I?"

"She couldn't have helped you alone," Bean snarled from his bed, fear of the endless possibilities from his wide array of dangerous captives that might have conspired with the whelp against him slowly creeping into his heart. "Who else helped you?!" he demanded.

"Oh," the oracle shrugged, "just a friend I made in the dungeons where you kept the lot of us. I think you've met, actually."

A figure stepped from the shadows to stand just at the foot of Hannibal's bed. It was a man of what had to be insurmountable beauty; bright eyes glowing darkly and a vicious expression of pure _hate_ on his lovely face.

"I never knew Chinese dragons had enough magic to shape-shift," Jack commented. "Learn something new every day, I guess, but it sure as hell made getting him out of all those iron bands easier."

At the sight of the creature from which he'd most feared conspiracy, Bean found a terror-soaked scream suddenly ripping from his throat and he was just as quickly silenced as the reptilian beast in human guise pounced with a furious roar; claws and teeth all too ready to serve as his weapons of vengeance.

The oracle casually observed his partner in escape as he tore their captor asunder, feeling rather satisfied at the sight of the quite graphic gore and not even caring as a splatter of blood flecked upon his cheek: it was just too _good_ for him to care.

Chase, however, seemed to care, and the beast sat back on his heels away from what was no more than an unrecognizable corpse, panting softly from enraged exertion as his eyes locked firmly upon the boy that had aided him in getting his revenge.

The bright red blood stood out starkly upon the youth's white flesh, matching his eyes well as they displayed a wicked glee in seeing justice done through violence.

_My,_ the dragon mused, _how **lovely**…_

With little warning, Jack was tackled roughly to the floor, his lips smothered by the dragon's and his clothing already being eagerly torn off.

_Oh, good,_ the oracle mused happily, _the spontaneous, post-murder sex Fate-thread!_

He'd been hoping that'd be the one that would happen, you know.

_**664. Saturnine-**_

"Spicer," Chase inquired, staring imposingly down upon the monks with a wicked grin, "what do you suppose should be done with these trespassers?"

"Oh, this is too big a decision for _me_ to make," the goth said. "Let's ask the Magic Well!"

The Xiaolin paused as the most fearsome opponent they had ever had the misfortune of facing _flinched_, slowly turning to the albino with a rather saturnine smile. "Now, Spicer," he said, an unfamiliar tone to his voice that could almost be called pleading, "we _don't_ have to consult the Magic Well." After a second, he petulantly added, "_Especially_ not with _them_ watching."

"Chase," Jack frowned, "_only_ the magic well can handle this kind of thing. You know how stubborn I get about this."

The warlord gave a resigned sigh. "Unfortunately, I do. Go on."

The youth mweed happily, plucking a hand-puppet in the shape of a well from his pocket and slipping it on (to the monks' utter confusion and Chase's obvious chagrin).

"What should we do, O Magic Well?" he inquired, soon answering himself by making the puppet's mouth (or what passed for it, anyway) move and speaking in falsetto, "I say we let the faeries go!"

The elder man sighed once more, bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. "Do you want me to send them away, Spicer? Is that what you're saying?"

"_I'm_ not saying anything," Jack insisted, "but the Magic well is _trying_ to make a point here!"

"Of course," Chase deadpanned, "how rude of me. Please go on, Magic Well."

And the Magic Well obliged with, "We should put the pants on the tiger!"

"That's it," the warlord decided, "I am done with your Magic Well shenanigans, Spicer! I shall simply torture them."

"That's what the Magic Well _said_ to do," the goth informed.

And at that point, Chase _needed_ to hurt something, making it quite fortunate that he'd chosen torture as the monks' fate.

_**665. Juggernaut-**_

Chase looked on in consternation as his lover smacked Katnappe across the cheek (a motion he always referred to as 'keeping his pimp-hand strong') with the proud declaration of, "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" before taking the few Shen Gong Wu she had.

He sometimes wondered, at times like now, how he could _possibly_ call this silly creature his mate.

As Jack trotted back to his side, however, happily handing over the two or three objects he'd taken and giving him an affectionate peck on the cheek with the chirp of, "Here you go, baby!" Chase remembered.

_**666. Ratiocination**_

Golden eyes remained fixed on the fine wine swirling gently in the equally-fine glass. "Mr. Spicer," their owner spoke firmly, "you cannot mean to implicate _me_ in this dreadful business."

"I'm afraid so," the youth sitting across from him assured. "You're right: this _is_ dreadful business, but I'm a detective, a damn good one if I do say so myself, and there's only two things I put my trust in automatically and without consideration: my mind and my deductive reasoning. At this point, I've seen all the evidence, talked to all the suspects, taken all factors into consideration and even done some snooping on the side, and to be frank…" He gave a brief pause, locking red eyes with the gorgeous and wealthy man before him. "All of it points to you, Mr. Young."

"Ridiculous," Chase easily scoffed, taking a casual sip of his wine. "What motivation could _I_ possibly have for wanting _my own father_ dead?"

Jack frowned at the clever phrasing: he'd been _hoping_ the man would ask him why he would want to _kill_ his father, at which point the young detective would have been able to intelligently point out that he had never said that Chase had _killed_ Hannibal, only that he was _responsible_ in some way for his death.

Still, he had to work with what he was given.

"My guess is money and hatred," the albino surmised, earning yet another scoff from Mr. Young.

"Explain your ratiocination," he demanded. "It's rather _bold_ of you to accuse me of not only hating my father, but taking him out of the picture simply to obtain his money."

"I'm a bold man," Jack freely admitted, "but no, not for _his_ money. You're rich enough not to need Hannibal's fortune. He was old and feeble, practically a vegetable; and yet he _just wouldn't die_. He kept living, providing a constant drain on your _own_ fortune. Initially," the youth deduced, "you were patient. You knew the old man would die sooner or later on his own, and you were perfectly willing to wait him out for another six or seven years. But then, as if to spite you, he defied medial science and lived _much_ longer than you'd hoped, about fifteen _years_ longer if I'm not mistaken. And _that_ is where your patience ended and you took matters into your own hands."

Chase merely sneered at the conclusion. "Money," he said, "is not motive enough to convict a son for the death of the father."

And he was right. All Jack had was a theory without physical evidence behind it, and no court would convict a family member of the victim without solid proof.

Luckily, the detective was not done.

"That's where your deep hatred of him comes into play," he informed, casually.

"And how, pray tell, do you intend to prove _that_ one, Spicer?"

"Several ways," the youth assured, "the first being that you kept him on the complete opposite end of your _large_ estate at all times. It almost seems like you hated him so much, you couldn't even stand to be _near_ him."

The wealthy man frowned slightly, explaining, "That just so happened to be the only room available for conversion into a medically-comprehensive living space to meet his therapeutic needs."

"Then what about the fact that you kept your mother's maiden name as an adult when your parents were never divorced?" Jack wondered. "Maybe because you couldn't _stand_ to share so much as a name with Hannibal?"

"Or," the man pointed out petulantly, "the name Chase _Bean_ just doesn't have as much of a ring to it."

Jack crossed one leg idly over the other. "Maybe," he conceded, reaching into his jacket's pocket to remove a small, black book, "but what might a jury say about what's in _here_?"

Suddenly upset at the accusations of murder, Chase stood in fury, his wine glass falling to the ground and the liquid inside staining the otherwise pristine carpet red. "How did you _get_ that, you little rat?!"

"I did some digging," the youth answered, "specifically in the rose garden. I just so happened to find this among the flowers: your personal journal. 'Old fool,' 'disgusting bastard,' 'damned cripple': I really don't think that looks very good for you in combination with the fact that you _buried_ this as if you were trying to hide it."

"Just what is it you want, boy?" Chase snarled at him. "A medal? Even if I _was_ responsible for killing my father, you'd _never_ get a confession from me! In fact…" He took a threatening step forward, curling a clearly powerful hand around Jack's slender, white throat. "What's to stop me from killing you, too?"

The young detective, oddly enough, seemed unfazed and lifted his arms; laying one hand on the much larger man's cheek and threading the fingers of the other through long, dark hair.

"I've read your diary, Mr. Young," he cooed slyly, craning his neck upwards a bit as if to kiss Chase upon the lips. "I know your weakness: intelligent young men. I trust my intelligence beyond _anything_ else, and I'm young: only three years into manhood. I can see it in your eyes that you find me attractive."

The man's hand loosened almost imperceptibly. "Why would I submit to you simply because I find you _attractive_? You _can't_ expect me to condemn myself to the _guillotine_ for a bit of _sex_."

"Certainly not," Jack assured.

"Then _what_?" the man demanded. "If its not a confession you hope to win out of me, then what reason do I have to let you live with what you know?"

"Elementary, Mr. Young," the detective purred, his voice going low and breathy as he informed, "for _my_ weakness is strong, ambitious men like you. Indulge me," he promised, "and Scotland Yard will _never_ find out about your dreadful business with Bean."

For once in his well-planned, skillfully-calculated life, Chase Young had absolutely no need to weigh his options.

"I accept," he purred shoving the genius detective forcefully backwards onto the love seat obligingly.

_**667. Sartorial-**_

Jackie gave a pleased sigh, happily resting her cheek upon her equally-satisfied lover's chest.

The teen _did_ love the luxuries the woman's sartorial occupation allowed her, specifically the most well-made and beautiful clothing whenever she chose to ask for it which easily kept her the most envied and desired girl in the whole school, but on second thought, she enjoyed it better when she was simply with her lover (preferably without any clothing at all).

"Mm, Jackie…" Chiang's warm, sated voice purred in her ear with clear affection, "I shall _never_ tire of your presence in my bed…"

"Ditto," the goth girl grinned, indulgently nuzzling against her lover's breasts; she wasn't sure why, as she'd never found breasts to be the best feature of a woman (she _did_ so like a pretty face), but Jackie was downright _fascinated_ with Chi's ample chest: it was exceedingly _perfect_.

"Don't, pet," the elder woman warned her. "Much more of that, and I won't be able to keep my hands off of you."

"…what's wrong with _that_?" the slender redhead inquired.

"You make an excellent argument," the shapely Asian smirked. "I _suppose_ you've convinced me…"

_**668. Arboreal-**_

"Chase, are you aware of the word, 'arboreal'?" Jack demanded angrily.

The warlord looked to the door to see his lover standing there expectantly, a dictionary in his hand and a scowl on his face.

"I am," he answered warily, "what of it, Spicer?"

"It's ridiculous!" the goth exclaimed. "Why is that word even _necessary_?! Who the _hell_ is talking about _trees_ so damn much that they need a whole _word_ for it?! How could mentioning trees as the topic and then using pronouns the rest of the conversation or occasionally repeating the word 'tree' _possibly_ be insufficient?!"

Chase sighed at the full-fledged rant and obligingly walked closer to the boy. "Spicer," he said, "you are passionate about all the wrong things. How can you be so upset over this trivial thing and so utterly apathetic about improving yourself so that the Heylin will actually have more than one player that is both reliable and formidable?"

"Chase," the youth challenged rather snobbishly, "what's more interesting: learning martial arts basics or dealing with dictionary drama?"

"How sad," the warlord commented, coming to the realization of where his mate's upset demeanor had come from, "you would rather _read a dictionary_ than apply yourself."

"Don't judge me," Jack defended, "I don't tell you how to live _your_ life!"

Chase instantly knew this was not an argument to be won with logic, and so intelligently, he took the path of least resistance: diversion.

"So...'arboreal,' Spicer?"

As expected, the goth was immediately derailed and agreed, "Oh my God, I _know_, right? Most unnecessary word _ever_!"

_**669. Mellifluous-**_

Chase Young was one pleased aristocrat.

For one, the painting he'd commissioned for the foyer had turned out better than any of his expectations. Given, his expectations had only been of a life-size portrait of himself, meant for the purpose of displaying to guests the man they would likely soon be meeting with, but he was nonetheless pleasantly surprised for the artwork to arrive and turn out to be _perfect_.

Previous artists had offered him naught but drivel; flawed depictions that displayed expressions of welcome or, God forbid, _friendliness_ on the face of a man who, oftentimes, was not even _him_ (he knew the size of his own nose, thank you, and whatever _that_ was was not it).

However, in Jack Spicer, middle class artist whose very occupation made him financially closer to peasant status, he had found perfection. The portrait was an _exact_ likeness of him, right down to the desired expression of intimidation and even the only and barely-visible freckle he possessed, just at the edge of his collarbone. Upon walking into his home, one would see _him_: the rich, elegant, imposing, and above all, _beautiful_ Chase Young.

To reiterate, he was pleased.

In fact, to show his appreciation to the young, talented artist he'd employed, he had provided the boy with a very high-class bedroom in which to live and work and naturally, all materials he could need to do so.

This had paid off for the lord quite well, as his estate was now proudly decorated with an ever-growing collection of artwork (thanks to young Spicer's current creative streak), and the man just so happened to be the deep, soul-searing _envy_ of every other lord for miles around.

Chase was on his way to see the boy about something just now, satisfied to traverse his halls and see decorative, tasteful beauty every which way he went where there had once been only bare walls. Eventually coming to the artist's door and opening it, the man quickly realized he would be awhile in receiving a greeting: Jack was painting at the moment.

In such a case, the lord had little care of having to wait, happy to simply watch the boy enjoying his hobby. Spicer sat at his canvas, indulging his passion with tender, careful strokes of his brush and delicate additions of color to add depth and dimension to the image, all the while completely oblivious to the world around him.

It was almost _erotic_ to watch the young artist enthralled in his work and tending to it as one might tend a lover, something that felt equally as naughty as if he were watching the youth masturbate or something else lewd and arousing.

Why yes, the lord had interest in his artist: the boy was beautiful and lovelier still when he painted (which seemed quite often now that money provided no restriction to his hobby and in fact _funded_ it). There was no one to say otherwise should he desire one in his employ, either, because as far as any law went, Spicer lived and worked in his home and was therefore his to do with as he pleased. In all honesty, he could have taken the boy forcefully by now and it would have been perfectly legal due to the artist's social status, at this point the same as a slave's!

But Chase was not that sort of man.

He wanted something more consensual with the youth, and if his hunch was correct, Spicer would respond quite well to seduction.

This theory had perhaps come from the large hints to be found in Jack's art as of late, such as the current image he was painting: two male horses in a pasture, one white and of an unimpressive size and the other black as pitch, large and majestic as he mouthed affectionately at his companion's ear.

"Spicer," he spoke aloud the moment the artist lay down his brush in order to switch to another, being considerate so as to keep the boy's work from being ruined by startlement.

As expected, Jack looked up immediately and gasped, quickly apologizing, "Lord Young! I'm so sorry; I didn't hear you come in!"

"It is quite alright," Chase assured, a bemused grin upon his lips. "I rather enjoy seeing you caught up in your work, Spicer."

The boy blushed a very pretty pink at the subtle implications of the statement (much to his lord's amusement). "D-do you need something?" he wondered quietly, trying to change the subject.

"As a matter of fact," the man promised, "I do. I wish to commission a painting from you." Personally, the lord thought paint a difficult medium to work with, too fluid and mellifluous to provide a good end result (because certainly, enough artists had failed at painting him to prove that such an art-form was not for everyone), but Jack, though plenty skilled in other mediums, seemed to both favor and excel in paint.

"Oh," the youth grinned agreeably, "sure thing! What'd you have in mind?"

Chase stunned the artist with the reply of, "A portrait of you," and for a good moment, Jack's mouth _would not_ work.

When it resumed its duties, however, the best it could provide was, "Uh…_what_ now?"

"You heard me," the elder man firmly stated. "I would like it somewhat small, as well; so that it can be easily portable without conspicuity. Perhaps just large enough to fit in a coat-pocket: can you do that, Spicer?"

"Y-yeah," Jack answered immediately, "I've done miniature works before, but…with, uh…with all due respect…why would you want a portrait of _me_?"

Chase stalked closer to his artist, lowering the tone of his voice to seductively speak, "I wish to possess a likeness of you that I can keep with me always, _Spicer_…" He then abruptly straightened and sharpened his tone once more, adding, "Take it as you will."

And with that, the lord smirked wickedly and left, pleased to see Jack already scrambling through his supplies to find the smallest canvas he had before the door was closed behind him.

_**670. Scion-**_

Chase Young, one not unseasoned in the enjoyment of carnal pleasures, found himself gasping in complete shock (and enjoyment) at his lover's sudden, unexpected action in riding him.

"Spicer," he groaned, tightening his hands upon pale hips that straddled his own, "I have lived over a _thousand_ years, and a lover has never _once_ done _that_ before…"

"Good," Jack moaned, "I'd _hope_ I can get creative every once in awhile; wouldn't want my status as scion to a porn star go to waste…"

"…a _porn star_?"

The goth paused in his lewd motions uncertainly, glancing down at his beloved and softly wondering, "It…it doesn't matter that my mom's a slut, does it?"

"Certainly not," Chase assured, "although it does explain much."

Jack gave a curious noise at the statement, only to gasp in surprise and pleasure as he was turned onto his back; pressed firmly into the sheets of the overlord's bed as the naughty, rhythmic motions were started up once more.

"You're a needy, attention-starved prima donna, just as one might expect of an adult film star," the man rumbled with a smirk, then easily squelching Jack's indignant but half-hearted protest with, "and I wouldn't have it any other way…"

**A/N: I'm trying a new thing with the formatting; I'm thinking this way'll be better and easier to read, so if you guys like it better this way, I'll eventually go back through all of Anthology and reformat it this way. If you like the old way better, I'll change this one, but I'm expecting a lot of you will like this way better. .**

**ANYWAYS.**

**_Lionize-_ To treat as an object of great interest or importance; continuation of _Modus Operandi_ and _Obstreperous_ from Chapter 61.**

**_Ephemeral-_ Continuation of _Redoubtable_ from Chapter 66 which was a continuation of _Supernatural_ from Genres of Chack. I _do_ so love cliffhangers with this one! :D**

**_Asunder-_ Continuation of _Divination_ from Chapter 66, in which Hannibal gets his comeuppance and Chase and Jack get it on! ;P**

**_Saturnine-_ Of a gloomy or surly disposition. This was, as I'm sure you expected, directly influenced by a conversation with Matt. We were talking on the phone and he was playing WoW and I was playing DragonFable, so neither of us were actually _talking_. Out of nowhere, the following conversation happens: "Let's ask the Magic Well! _I say we let the faeries go!_" "..._what_?" "I don't know, what'd I just say? I wasn't paying attention." "...you're weird, Matt." "_Let's put the pants on the tiger!_" "Stop saying weird things!" "OH MY GOD, YOU SHOULD PUT THE MAGIC WELL IN ANTHOLOGY." "...okay." XD**

**_Juggernaut-_ Tee-hee, Jack is amusing; Chase _loves_ it! ;P**

**_Ratiocination_ The process of exact thinking; this was #666, so I decided to do something rather sinful/evil: familial murder. This was also a direct result of a conversation with Matt, actually, when he was remembering when he said Jack had been everything but a witch-doctor in Anthology and was trying to think of something else he hadn't been yet. The result? Sherlock Holmes-Jack. Naturally, before I could protest it, the idea had wormed its way into my head and I had to write it, so...here it is. o.o**

**_Sartorial-_ Of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes; a continuation of _Dresses_ and _Skirt_ in Chapters 43 and 49 respectively. I thought of this when the Chase-dragon I had over on Dragon Cave was a female one and was pondering what should happen if my Jack-dragon also turned out to be female. This reminded me that I hadn't done lesbian-Chack in awhile, and I chose to remedy that. :D**

**_Arboreal-_ Of or relating to trees; I don't know, I guess I get that the word can be used by environmental scientists as such, but on the whole, the word just seems useless to me.**

**_Mellifluous-_ Having a smooth rich flow; continuation of _Limn_ from Chapter 66 because it received so much popular interest that I felt obligated to write more for it. :)**

**_Scion-_ Descendant or heir; perhaps whore's tricks are genetic for Jack...or rather, "Maybe he's born with it." INSERT MAYBELLINE JOKE HERE XD**

**So anyways, that's Chapter 67, and I hope you guys liked it (oh, and don't forget to give your opinion on the new formatting)! :D**


	68. Chapter 68

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't mine.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--  
**

**_671. Naughty-_**

"Where are you, my pet?" the tiger rumbled low in his throat, stalking the halls of his palace as any predator of his kind might do in search of prey.

"I'll never tell," a voice snickered in reply, a near-fatal mistake for the creature as Chase now knew the general area in which his mate hid thanks to his keen ears.

"Oh, no?" the beast wondered in pretense, prepared to bait his little lover into letting him know _precisely_ where he was. "If I can't find _you_, I may have to resort to _Wuya_! Minks _do_ have that terrible odor, though; I shall have to resist the urge to vomit during coitus."

A delightedly amused giggle rang out from behind the flowerpot: the actual _fatal_ mistake.

The tiger snuck up on his hiding mate and _pounced_, grinning wickedly as the pale creature merely squealed in surprise and elation, giving not so much as a _feeble_ attempt to escape him.

"Ah, _here_ you are, Spicer," he purred, bending to nuzzle the boy and take in the fruity, strawberry aroma of Jack's body soap, "how fortunate that I have found you."

"I'll say," the rabbit smiled brightly, nuzzling back into the predator's long, dark locks, "it would've been a _nightmare_ if you had to make to do with Bitchy McNagsalot!"

"Actually," Chase growled, pinning his mate more forcefully onto the floor, "I believe I should punish you for even making me _consider_ that as an option, Spicer…" His words were threatening, but his tone said that he had _quite_ the opposite of pain in mind for the younger creature. "What do you say to that, my naughty little bunny-rabbit?"

Jack smirked eagerly. "I say we should play hide-and-seek more often…"

**_672. Balance-_**

Jack felt himself start to falter and knew immediately that he had _no chance_ of regaining his footing.

A startled noise began to escape his throat only to be strangled off as a firm body made its presence known behind him, hands closing on his hips to hold him steady.

"Careful, Spicer," the warlord teased. "I feel that you would somehow lose your attractiveness to me were you a skewered pancake."

The goth gazed down into the seemingly endless chasm all around the stalagmite on which he and now his lover stood. "Sorry," he muttered, "I'm just not all that good at keeping my balance on a ledge smaller than a dime while standing on one foot, Mr. Perfect."

The warlord behind him chuckled. "You will get better," he assured. "That is what this is for, Spicer: to improve you. Now consider the fact that since you are male, your center of gravity is here," the man lay one broad palm upon his lover's undefined pectorals, "in your upper-chest. You are trying to keep balance more with your hips and failing because that is where the _female_ center of gravity is. Try keeping yourself level like a _man_ would and see if that helps you any."

Jack snorted as Chase's hands moved away from him, nonetheless hovering close by just in case he faltered again. "This coming from the guy who questions my masculinity on a near-constant basis?"

The man laughed at that, stressing, "I question your _masculinity_, not your _maleness_; the difference is _acting_ like a man and physically _being_ a man. I have no doubt that you are the latter, Spicer, it is the former in which you tend to fall short."

The teen only grunted in mild annoyance, trying his best to do as his lover had earlier advised and re-centering himself.

He did not fall.

"Better," Chase praised, "_much_ better! Perhaps a warrior can be made of you yet."

"Why are we doing this again?" Jack inquired. "I mean, I get the 'improving my balance' part, but _exactly_ why are we doing that?"

"I believe it will be better for you to eventually come on or at least _close_ to par with my skills," the warlord explained. "If we are closer in power and ability than we currently are, you will have less of an inferiority complex and likely be more comfortable and secure in your position as my lover, a position that will not be changing anytime soon no matter _how_ many times Wuya tries to ingratiate herself back into my good graces."

Jack smiled at the (for Chase) sentimental statement, allowing his balance to slip as he leaned backwards into the dragonlord's chest. "Aw, Chase..." he cooed.

"Besides," the man quipped, a wicked smirk on his face, "I believe it may be nice to have a lover that will not lose their equilibrium in the middle of love-making and fall off the bed."

"Oh, _one_ time...!" the goth crowed indignantly.

**_673. Feral-_**

Chase snarled harshly, pain clouding his senses with such sudden intensity that it shut down his already-feeble human-thought processes while in his current form.

His fight-or-flight response kicked in as something grabbed him and he roared, thrashing and clawing blindly at whatever it was that had him.

He _refused_ to lie down and die so easily.

"Ngh, Chase," someone spoke, "knock it _off_!"

The lizard paused in his struggles at the familiarity of the voice. _Mate?_

Jack sighed in relief as his currently-scaled lover ceased his fighting, now able to pull the injured reptile's head into his lap. He feared no further 'retribution' from the Xiaolin monks that had done this to his Chase: the blaster he'd brought along to the Showdown had sent them running with one _look_ at the B.F.G.

He was more concerned for his feral-minded lover, wounded and obviously frazzled half out of his head.

"Chase," he began softly, petting the reptile's dark green scales, "are you alright?"

The beast panted for a moment, worn from his struggles and the pain of his wound, before giving a noise in response; an exhausted hiss.

The goth returned it with a sympathetic noise low in his throat. "Poor baby," he cooed. He desperately wanted to get a look at where the blade had struck the warlord-in-a-dragon's-body, but Chase's brain seemed to have little to no semblance of humanity at the moment and it was unlikely that a _wounded predator_ would be showing _anyone_ its underbelly, where the wound currently was; unlikely to make itself vulnerable to another when it was _already_ hurt.

Still, Chase had calmed down a little, so that, at least, was something.

The large reptile purred at the pleasant sensation of hands upon his scales, nice and warm upon his natural armor-plating. His mate _always_ knew how to soothe him!

He nuzzled his snout against the boy's thigh, purring louder show his appreciation for the affection being lavished upon him, making him forget almost entirely of his injury.

The young human's hands moved down on his body, coming to rest at the slight curve of his waist. Chase felt those hands pressing there, as if trying to crawl beneath him and was confused.

However, he quickly came to the conclusion that his mate wished to tend his wound (such a _good_ mate the boy was!) and indulgently rolled over.

As his lover did so, Jack immediately took the chance to inspect the lizard's stomach. "Oh," he sighed in relief, asking without any real expectations of an answer, "see? This isn't too bad. You'll be healed in, like, four days tops!"

Abruptly, the goth realized something and his jaw went slack with shock.

"Chase," the youth breathed, stunned, "you…you showed me your belly…you _submit_ to me…"

Having at least come back to himself enough to understand the words his mate was speaking if not enough to speak them himself, the dragon gave another soft purr, reaching up with his snout to tongue affectionately at the genius' cheek.

_Of course I did,_ he thought at the boy, as if Jack could hear his thoughts. _You are the only one to whom I shall **ever** submit._

**_674. Restoration-_**

SPICER felt particularly thwarted.

As calculator to a Secret Scientist (one of the genius man's very own design: a Specialized-Paranormal-Intelligent-Calculating-Enigmatic-Reasearch device), meant to analyze supernatural objects, he was not unused to seeing very old objects in his laboratory.

It had become a routine since the very day he'd been given a charged battery: the object, whatever it happened to be that particular analysis-session, would be placed beside him on a table, he would independently scan it, take the sort of basic data that any average device could such as general composition, energy levels, just stuff that would tell him if the thing was _actually_ supernatural or not. Then, if the object proved paranormal, he would 'talk' to it, so to speak, by sending out data on the object's unique frequency.

In this way, he could coax information willingly from the object that analysis with other, simplistic machines would never be able to get, which often resulted in _his_ utter pampering above other things of his kind, the perks of which included a velvet-lined case, frequent chargings, and the polishing of his high-quality LCD screen.

Naturally, SPICER was inclined to keep up his good work.

However, this current object was both frustrating and fascinating to him, and three hours into his analysis, he knew nothing more than the basics that any machine could record and that it was, indeed, supernatural.

The object in question was a beautiful, ancient sword (so many years old, in fact, that was a miracle that it's 'brand-new' appearance was _not_ from a recent restoration), made of what appeared to be silver but was actually a combination of metals formed into an amalgamation that made it all but unbreakable. The hilt was made of the same material as the blade but gilded with gold instead of silver and inscribed with beautifully-written Chinese characters; some too old for even _his_ advanced database to determine, but from those that were familiar, he gathered that it was a cursed blade with _immense_ power, not to mention its supernatural readings that were completely _off the charts_!

But, two-and-a-half hours after the initial, basic analysis (which had itself taken thirty or so minutes) and broadcasting various pleas on hundreds of frequencies to 'speak' with him had yielded nothing.

"Aw, man," SPICER at last moaned in defeat, still on the sword's frequency. "I am _so_ gonna lose my job…"

"Your job?" came the smooth inquiry.

Were the calculator human, he would have literally jumped from the lab table in surprise. He nonetheless focused his attention back upon the blade, hesitantly inquiring, "W…was that you?"

"Yes, it was me," it answered. "As if it could have been anything _else_. I ask again: your job?"

SPICER's screen flickered once before realizing, "Oh. Oh! Right, my job. I'm supposed to talk to you and figure out what you do as a paranormal object. You know, the stuff you can do that a normal sword couldn't. Um, why didn't you answer anything I said to you before, if you don't mind me asking?"

"You weren't saying anything of interest to me," the sword coolly retorted. "What is it that happens to you if you fail to relay the information your human masters want of me?"

"Actually," the calculator informed, "it's one of two things. 1) I become useless in their eyes for being unable to fulfill my primary function and am destroyed completely, or 2) I become obsolete when a newer model is made to get your information and I get locked into a drawer or cabinet forever and ever, never to see fluorescent light again, until the point where I become so old and useless that no amount of battery charging will make me function ever again, AKA: death." A bit pleadingly, he finished, "Help a calculator out?"

To his surprise, the sword laughed; clearly entertained. "What an amusing little device you are," it chuckled. "I should hate to see you wasted. I will cooperate with your investigation. What are you called?"

"Oh, thank you so much! I'm a SPICER model," the calculator proudly declared, "the only one in existence _and_ verified smartest machine on the planet. Texas Instruments can kiss my ass…well, if I had an ass, anyhow."

The blade chuckled again. "A pleasure to meet you, SPICER. I am known as the Sword of Junjie. Of course, as I was once a warrior whose spirit was long ago sealed into my own weapon, it would be more accurate to simply refer to me as Junjie."

"I can't pronounce stuff in Chinese worth shit," SPICER sheepishly admitted. "Made in America and all. Can I call you Chase instead?"

"Why 'Chase'?" Junjie inquired. "It is nothing remotely like my true name."

"It sounds cool," the calculator offered by way of explanation.

If swords could facepalm, it was certain that this sword would have done so.

Nonetheless, he allowed, "Oh, why not? I have been meaning to adopt a more modern name anyhow. 'Chase' is as good as any name, I suppose."

"Neat," SPICER happily exclaimed. "So, um, to get this data-collection crap out of the way, what exactly do you do?"

"Many things," the newly-dubbed Chase said simply. "I can summon the elements to my will, defy gravity, teleport, and should I choose to, I can kill."

"Wow, that's amazing!" the calculator cooed impressedly. "Fuck _my_ functions, _you're_ awesome!"

"Why, thank you, young SPICER," the blade said. "I would not have previously believed a mechanical toy to be able to show respect for his elders."

"You deserve respect," the device stated matter-of-factly. "You kick ass _and_ you're the most gorgeous sword I've ever seen!"

The blade, of course, knew himself to be beautiful: his shining metal surface, his fingerprint-free hilt engraved with his name and curse in beautiful lettering, and the few tasteful charms hanging from the black-green tassel upon the hilt.

Even knowing this fact, he still _loved_ to hear of it, especially from another beautiful object.

SPICER was a rather pretty machine, as well: his sleek, pearly casing, his black keys of soft rubber with white lettering printed upon them, his size and shape (small and curved a bit in the middle for optimum holding ability), and his spotless screen with blinking red numbers as calculations were made and data was recorded…

…_how_ long had it been since he'd gotten laid again?

"SPICER…" he began slowly, "how much longer shall we be left alone in this lab?"

"Um…" the calculator considered this for a moment before replying, "I'd say at least another four hours; why?"

Pleased with such an answer, the blade practically purred, "You see, I have an ability I neglected to tell you about and I was…curious as to whether or not there would be enough time to show you. Tell me, is this room under any kind of surveillance?"

"Not really," SPICER informed, "just a couple of cameras outside to make sure no unauthorized people get in, but other than that, nothing."

"Excellent," Chase decided. "In that case, I possess the power to shape-shift. Would you like to see me in a human body, SPICER?"

"Oh, wow, for real?!" The handheld device beeped his excitement aloud, only his inability for movement preventing jumping up and down like a fanboy. "Yes, I'd _love_ to see that! Totally!"

If the sword had a mouth at the moment, a wicked smirk would have crossed his lips. As it was, he didn't have one, though he very soon would.

Mystical energy flooded the room, nearly overloading SPICER's sensors as a blinding, magical light flashed and as it dissipated…

The calculator nearly shut off in shock to sense what the sword had transformed into.

Chase was tall as a human man, well-built and strong if his musculature were any indication. His hair, long and black-green, was threaded with a few golden ornaments that accentuated its beauty and his flesh was tanned a similar, golden color that made him appear a god or at the least an idol of one. His eyes glimmered like suns upon his beautiful, handsome face and a smirk sat upon his lips as he stared at the small device still upon the table.

All SPICER could find in his databanks to say to the vision was, "Wow…"

"How eloquent," the very pretty man chuckled, his mouth moving, but the sound on his previous low frequency; too low for any human to hear.

SPICER could hear, though. He could hear the deep, smooth voice so melodic to his sensors that it sent a whole mess of errors streaking through his logic drive.

"Tell me," it sounded again, "would you like to know what it is like to possess a human body, as well?"

The calculator's screen flickered. "Wh-what, me? You can _do_ that?"

"Of course," Chase assured, "should you want."

"I do," the machine decided quickly before sheepishly adding, "I mean, _if_ it's not too much trouble…"

"Oh, trust me, SPICER," the sword assured, curling his fingers about the small device and easily lifting it, "it is _no_ trouble…"

The light and energy came again, but this time, the calculator could _feel_ it; tingling through his circuitry, _changing_ it drastically…

Chase was pleased at the sight of SPICER in a human form.

His body had retained its compact sleekness and appeared smooth-skinned and wiry in musculature. He was slender, still, his waist retaining the curvature he'd had as a calculator and providing the same ease with which to grip him.

His LCD screen had become his eyes, the bright, electronic red of his readout taking the place of his irises amidst the pale grey of the rest of his eyes as he blinked innocently up at the sword who'd changed him, a smile forming upon his new face as he realized the extent of his new form.

The sharpest distinction from human was his numerical keys, a bit larger than they were before and the black rubber buttons forming a very _interesting_ contrast to his pearly-white stomach…

SPICER 'meep'-ed as he was abruptly shoved back onto the lab table, gazing up with wide eyes as Chase's human form soon covered his own. "Ch-Chase?" the machine inquired, his lips moving but the sound still on the blade's low-low frequency as he tested his mammalian vocal chords for the first time. "What're you-mmf!"

The ancient warrior silenced the younger instrument with lips and tongue, thereby assuring the newer of them would shut up and _quickly_. "I cannot hold this form long because of my curse, SPICER," he informed upon pulling away. "I have not had intercourse in a _very_ long time and you are a prime, pretty target on which I fully intend to slake my lust."

The calculator blushed at the frankness of the statement only for red eyes to go wide and a pleasured gasp to escape his throat as long, golden fingers dipped down to trace his sine button with barely there, _really_ not-enough pressure.

"You want that, _don't_ you, SPICER?" Chase purringly wondered. "You want me to play with you?" His sultry tone and the slightest force of his finger on the calculator's function were rewarded with a shaky, weak moan and a sweet, desirous plea of, "Unnhh, more…"

A wicked grin spread across the blade's face as he promised, "I shall give you _much_ more, young machine…"

Soon enough, curious sounds were pouring from the laboratory. Of course, they were entirely inaudible unless one had very sensitive listening equipment immediately on hand or perhaps a dog with them.

"Nnh…Chase, _yessss_…hit…hit 'GRAPH' for m-" A sinful moan. "Ohh, God, quadratic..! So close, Chase, so close…Wait…what are you…? 100,000^100?! But-" The words cut off with a shrill, orgasmic shriek, the declaration of, "OVERFLOW ERROR," soon become, "_CHASE_…!"

Hours later, a dark-haired scientist entered the room, intent on seeing what data'd been recovered of the golden sword locked up and buried in an Arctic cave that his team had unearthed earlier that morning.

"Aw, dead battery?" Dr. Paul Cheechoo moaned in mild annoyance upon picking up the SPICER model he himself had designed. "Could've _sworn_ I charged it last night!"

The man nonetheless placed the handheld device in its charging cradle, leaving the golden sword on the table alone.

"Damn if I don't have to do the scan all over again tomorrow," the scientist muttered to himself, turning to leave the laboratory.

Unbeknownst to him, the sword was radiating a mischievous glee at those words.

**_675. Bagel-_**

Jack Spicer sighed, looking blankly at the utterly huge stack of papers on his desk.

Error reports, all of them: files on shit that fucked up within the company and who'd put the metaphorical fan in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And _all_ of it was _his_ responsibility to sort out and advise the head honcho on how those responsible should be dealt with.

Sometimes, Jack reflected, it seemed that Mr. Hannibal Bean had given him this hellish chore _just_ because it would turn something he loved, pointing out peoples' inadequacies and screw-ups, into something tedious and frustrating.

Oh, if only he'd known how many complete and utter _morons_ worked here when he'd begged for that job!

Suddenly, a black coffee mug (complete with skull decal) pervaded his vision along with a cream-cheese slathered bagel, both of which the young man eagerly accepted.

Biting into the scrumptious food-item, Jack, around his mouthful, moaned, "God, Chase, you're a _life-saver_!"

The elder man grinned good-naturedly at the younger, assuring, "It's nothing, Spicer. After all, it's part of my job as Hannibal's errand boy to distribute snacks and such to the employees."

Chase had been forced to serve as Bean's personal secretary when Wuya'd quit out of frustration last year; another job given for the sole purpose of annoyance and humiliation.

"Well, still," Jack insisted, taking a grateful gulp of the coffee that had the perfect amount of cream and sugar for his tastes, "thanks for the consideration, Chase."

"I'm looking out for my own interests as well, Spicer," the secretary pointed out. "What good will it do me to have an exhausted, starved vice president who can't so much as suck me off under my desk?"

"Oh, yeah," the albino recalled, "that hostile take-over thing you're doing is _this_ week, isn't it?"

"So it is," Chase nodded with a grin, "and there will be some changes made around here, just one of which being the firing of the incompetent that so exacerbate your current job. And of course, before the week is out, you shall be sitting in your own lavish office across from mine for your _new_ career and will receive a page from the new CEO of Heylin Industries to get your tight, perky rump bent over my desk."

"Mmm," Jack grinned in delight, "sounds awesome. For now, though…we're still on for the quickie in the supply closet during my lunch-hour, right?"

The secretary smirked and, knowing no one to be watching, bent to kiss his seated lover.

"Of course we are," he promised upon pulling away.

**_676. Wonderflonium-_**

Bad Horse sauntered casually into Jack Spicer's average-looking apartment, heedless of his surroundings and focusing only on finding his desired target; though he already had an idea of where the boy might be.

Making his way through the small living room and then the tiny dining area, eventually coming across the kitchen cupboard, the villain paused.

Too easy, the esteemed head of the E.L.E. thought to himself, opening the cupboard to discover the staircase leading down to the mad scientist's laboratory. Neither was he much surprised to find said scientist slaving over a hot ray-gun, decidedly _not_ his ill-fated death-ray which he'd been _told_ to work on: it was, instead, his freeze-ray, the pistol that paused time.

"What are you doing, Horrible?" the villain demanded of the young doctor, seeing the albino start and whirl about with wide, red eyes.

"Bad Horse," the new inductee to the Evil League of Evil yelped, _clearly_ knowing he had not been in the right in going against his superior's _direct_ order to belay all other projects until the death-ray was finished, "you-I was just-y'see-"

"You were modifying your freeze-ray," the man declared.

Immediately, the youth's shoulders slumped; resistance faded. "Yeah," he admitted quietly.

Bad Horse approached the scientist, equine tail flicking in mild annoyance. "Why?" he demanded to know. "What are you hoping to accomplish?"

"I want her back," Dr. Horrible moaned despairingly, holding his head in his hands. "I…I never meant for _her_ to get hurt, even if it _was_ the only reason I got into the League! I've…I've got make my freeze-ray go backwards…rewind time, stop it from-"

"What will that solve?" the elder man inquired firmly, making the scientist pause his rant and stare at him in confusion. "She did not love you and she _never_ did," Bad Horse spoke matter-of-factly, seeing the young man's flinch and nonetheless continuing. "Even if you brought her back from the dead, she will _not_ love you. She is too blindly obsessed with that arrogant fool that used to beat you unconscious on a near-daily basis before his mental breakdown."

The albino's mouth opened to protest, and was cut off. "Even _if_ she weren't, there is no way you could have your 'evilly ever after' with her: she is innately Good; _sickeningly_ Good. Shelter the homeless, feed the poor, _save the world_! Green as you are, it is clear that you are oriented towards Evil. You don't want to shelter, you want to destroy; you don't want to feed, you want to starve; you don't want to save, you want to _rule_. That girl would have you _abandon_ all that, everything you've worked for in your life."

The doctor finally stopped even trying to object and simply stared at his superior, listening. "Your hopes, your dreams of aggressive regime and reform, your PhD in horribleness: all for naught and wasted so that you may build machines to _save_ people, to fritter your talent away in _helping_ the very race I can feel your spite for even now. You cannot tell me you want that, Horrible," Bad Horse concluded. "You _cannot_."

The youth's genius brain processed this, nearly instantly interpreting it as logic and truth and causing despair to flood his entire being. "What am I supposed to _do_, then, Chase?!" he begged of his Evil hero, flopping hopelessly onto his lab table. "I _loved_ her!"

Chase did not even protest at the enunciation of his true name and not his villain-moniker: the boy was distressed and a small slip of the tongue could be excused.

Instead, Bad Horse moved yet closer to the genius, confiscating the container of freeze-ray powering wonderflonuim from a pale, white hand. "You did not love her," he promised gently. "You are a boy: you do not yet _know_ love."

Dr. Horrible sniffled quietly. "…yet?" he questioned.

"Yet," the elder assured, a dark grin on his face. "You see, even _before_ your induction to the League, I could see your potential for Evil…_our_ potential to _be_."

Chase found himself chuckling softly as the youth realized what was being said and his ears flicked back as he, unwittingly, flooded the air with pheromones at merely the _idea_ of becoming consort to one so wicked and powerful as _Bad Horse_; not all that surprising considering that the doctor had long worshiped him, esteemed him even higher than his precious, dead crush.

Bad Horse enjoyed that fact very much and made use of it now.

"I could teach you love," he spoke, his tone low and seductive as he gently mouthed at the redhead's earlobe. "I could teach you many things, _Jack_, and you could truly have everything you ever wanted only this time, it could _work_. Your 'evilly ever after' at last…"

Jack couldn't refrain from leaning back into his idol's touch, his grip releasing the freeze-ray completely as a tiny whimper of _want_ escaped his throat.

An equine tail swished in interest and smug glee at the noise and Bad Horse quickly had the young and lovely Doctor Horrible bent over his own lab table, ignoring the startled gasp from the novice villain.

Chase cared very little that the secretly-taken photograph of the pretty little Asian girl fell to the floor at the action, the glass of the frame shattering into a million pieces upon the concrete, and why would he? The life-size poster of _his_ likeness, standing gorgeously triumphant over his pathetic enemies remained securely taped to Spicer's wall opposite the table.

"I believe I shall give you your first lesson as my official apprentice and consort, Horrible," he purred, "_Fucking_ 101…"

**_677. Horse-_**

Lord Young found himself gaping unabashedly at the still-raging battlefield, shocked speechless at the sight of soldier after solider under his command going down in spray after spray of blood.

He had, naturally, expected a quick battle: his proud, well-trained and armed men against these brutish, barbarian savages? Over within twenty minutes!

Clearly, the lord had miscalculated—he had not counted on their trump card.

Said trump card was, on the battlefield, little more than a blur of white and red as it darted between men and horses, swiping only once with a small knife before moving onto the next victim of its blade.

It was quick, whatever it was; _too_ quick to be wearing armor of any sort which seemed a dangerous thing to leave off when fighting a battle. However, it was apparent enough that this being had no _true_ need of armor: it was simply too fast to be struck by an average soldier's blade and any plating, necessary or not, would only slow it down and make it an easier target.

Nonetheless, Chase reflected, _he_ was no average soldier.

Enough of his men had been felled by this barbarian Neanderthal, and the lord dug his heels into his steed's side, spurring the horse forward on his charge to end the murderous hellcat's killing spree.

Unsurprisingly, it noticed Chase's approached immediately and, to the naked eye, disappeared.

Lord Young did not falter. He remained steady and focused, _knowing_ the very instant the being appeared behind him; launched at him in midair with dagger poised to sever his head from his body.

Within the space of a second, Chase's arm swung behind him, _slamming_ the hilt of his blade mercilessly hard into his attacker's solar plexus.

As expected, a pained wheeze sounded before a small, slender body fell upon the lord's back, unconscious and allowing a bloody, bejeweled dagger to fall to the ground.

Chase's remaining men saw it and cheered, and for a moment, the lord wondered why they had let their guard down so in the midst of battle.

The reason soon became clear: all other enemies had been defeated already save for this one.

More intrigued than he could bear, now, Chase took hold of the body slumped against his, pulling the mystery assassin to rest before him on the saddle.

The lord immediately found himself gaping in pure shock.

The assailant was…a mere boy! A youth of no more than sixteen summers!

The unconscious boy Chase found in his arms was slender, compact in form and a clear sign he'd been trained as a sort of special operative; as one versed in speed and precision as opposed to strength and endurance. The young barbarian male wore nothing upon his torso, leaving a pale, hairless chest bare to the lord's eyes.

Now, of course, Chase had heard of these peoples' fairness; heard stories of peach-colored flesh and yellow hair, but this boy…

His flesh was more of _snow_ than of peach! What might his hair be beneath that blood-red cloak he wore, the hood of which was purposefully affixed to keep his face above the nose hidden (a mark that he'd been trained in his field very long, and was now so skilled that he could kill without sight)?

With what _could_ be seen of his face, his lips and jaw were decorated with war-paint of some kind, red like the hood he wore. Speaking of the hood, it was oddly ornamented; a pale eye was emblazoned upon the forehead and white feathers, likely from a dove, were sewn into the cloth on either side of the youth's head, as if he were some sort of mortal Mercury.

The lord could stand it no longer: he _needed_ to see this assassin's face.

Slipping his hands beneath the crimson fabric, Chase slid the hood back…

…and found himself once more dumbstruck, this time at the sight of a lovely, heart-shaped face framed by soft, white locks; beautiful and innocent with youth and unconsciousness.

Chase was smitten near-instantly, never mind the fact that this beautiful young man had just decimated a good three-fourths of his battalion.

He decided then and there that he would have the boy. The white-skinned barbarian was a prisoner of war, now, and to the victor go the spoils…

Chase hitched the boy's body up a bit; the limp form flopping bonelessly against the warrior, cheek ending up pressed to a firm chest.

"Come, men," the lord announced imperiously, an arm curling around his captive's waist and holding him where he was, "our work is done here."

A soft moan escaped the youth as the horse upon which he sat was spurred into a gallop; a moan which was easily quieted with a gentle stroke of soft, snowy hair.

Chase grinned smugly as the boy fell back into unconsciousness under his ministrations. "That's right, pet," he purred, directing his steed back to his palace, "_heel_ to your new master…"

**_678. Chia Pet-_**

"…You're joking," the warlord declared, glaring at the small ceramic figure his lover held in one stark white hand. "I shall _not_ have so vile and disgusting a thing in my home, Spicer."

"Aw, _c'mon_, Chase," the goth whined, holding the custom Chia Pet protectively to his chest, "it'll be _fun_ to have it…!"

Golden eyes glowered pure hatred at the ceramic visage of Hannibal Bean. "Even in the form of a figurine," Chase growled, "I _do not_ want that aberration in my palace!"

Before the overlord could say another word on the issue, he was forced to watch in horror as Jack's jaw firmly set and he declared, "We're keeping the Chia Pet, and if we don't, you won't be getting _any_."

Spicer had used this tactic before; perhaps the precise reason Chase feared it so.

Its first use, the man's young lover had wanted to go to Paris just for the hell of it. The overlord, in no mood to go trouncing around the globe at the time, had refused and the goth had given him that precise ultimatum: _I get my way on this, or we don't fuck._

Chase had dismissed it as an empty threat: Spicer, that insatiable glutton for dragon-cock, was going to stave off sex? Ha! The man had initially bet on having to wait a grand total of two days before the youth came crawling back for a good lay.

And then two-and-a-half months passed and _Chase_ became the one crawling back, desperate for a good fuck.

Even then, he'd made the mistake of assuming he'd easily be able to seduce his Spicer _without_ giving into the boy's demands.

Chase hadn't counted on the chemical formula the goth had forced Katnappe to whip up for him, essentially killing any libido he had while on it and making the seduction of him as likely as cracking a diamond with a feather.

Sex had only resumed once Chase at last surrendered and escorted his lover to the City of Lights.

Luckily for the warlord, Jack acknowledged that such a technique of winning arguments was supremely unfair and only used it when he absolutely _would not_ budge on an issue: surprisingly fairly, only three times in their history as a couple (a good eighty-seven years, now).

Apparently, this Chia Pet thing was Time #4, and Chase Young sighed before surrendering to his Jack.

"Very well, Spicer," he reluctantly conceded, "you may keep the thing, _provided_ that it is kept out of my sight."

Being the Bitch-Lord of the Mountain, Chase couldn't let his consort get away with _everything_, and had to lay down _some_ sort of rules.

"Cool," the goth thankfully agreed with a happy squeal, pouncing the warlord to the bed. "I can manage that much…"

Sex was had, and from that moment to several weeks later, Chase forgot all about the little ceramic Hannibal taking secret residence in his home.

He was abruptly reminded when, after so long of Jack keeping to the agreement of keeping it hidden, it appeared unprecedented on the kitchen table one morning.

Chase took one look at the small Hannibal Bean and its plentiful, leafy afro and burst out laughing.

"Oh, good," his lover grinned, placing breakfast on the table, "you like it!"

"It is purely ridiculous," the man announced, still chuckling. "Bean with _any_ sort of hair is…unimaginably absurd."

"Well," Jack admitted with a devious grin, "I went to some pretty extreme lengths to make sure the 'hair' grew. I used only the best fertilizer from your cats' litterboxes and watered it with my own saliva for weeks before it paid off!" The goth glanced thoughtfully at the Chia Pet, adding, "Though I always _guessed_ that the only way anything could grow there would be a whole lotta spit and a whole lotta shit."

Chase laughed once more, thoroughly amused at the metaphorical demoralizing of his most hated enemy. "Spicer," he declared, "you are a wicked genius. You may keep your 'Hannibal,' _on the strict condition_," he specified, "that you keep doing what you're doing."

Delighted that his beloved finally enjoyed the prospect of the Chia Pet Hannibal, Jack happily chirped, "Sure thing!"

**_679. Ibuprofen-_**

Jack's mood perked indefinitely as he heard footsteps enter his room, a familiar type of slow, firm, steady footfalls that gave the interloper an immediate identity. "Ch-Dr. Young," he greeted, catching himself from sounding too familiar with the man that was supposed to _only_ be his doctor. "I didn't think you were seeing me today!"

The handsome man in the prim, white coat gave his prone patient a winning smile. "No need to be so formal, Spicer," he teased, "there's no chance we'll be interrupted anytime soon. Nurse Bailey has already given you your check-up for the day, and I'm the only one who visits you what with Byron having scared off all your friends and relatives. Unless you begin flat-lining, we are alone for awhile."

The redhead smiled brightly as Chase came to his bedside, teasing, "I just might if we disconnect the EKG machine with all of our rowdy activities…"

The doctor snorted. "Despite your rather quick rate of recovery, you are nowhere _near_ well enough for sex, if that is what you're implying." A warm, broad palm lay gently upon the albino's tender, damaged chest. "How are you feeling, by the by?"

"As well as can be expected," Jack verbally shrugged (as doing so with his shoulders would've likely caused unnecessary pain in his torso). "My chest is a little achy, yeah, but…I _did_ get my ribs fractured pretty bad, so I guess that's normal, right?"

Chase frowned and 'hmm'-ed quietly. "It is normal to still be experiencing pain," the man conceded, "but I would prefer you too doped up to _feel_ as much of it as you're telling me you do."

The young man grinned ear to ear. "Morphine, please?"

The elder male snorted again, this time in amusement. "No, Spicer," he denied, "no morphine. You needn't run the risk of addiction and overall loopiness to be out of pain." Chase placed his hand upon a pale forehead, noting, "You've a mild fever, as well. Perhaps a bit of ibuprofen would be just the thing."

"That's what Clay said," Jack replied. "He said he'd be back soon to hook me up."

"Intelligent of him," the hospital director mused. "I shall see to it that he receives a small bonus in his paycheck for looking out for my favorite patient. Considering he shall soon return, however…" Chase stood from Jack's bedside, declaring, "I'd best be off."

The patient gave a pleased noise as the man bent to kiss him, pulling away with a smirk as he offered a bit of advice. "Heal quickly, Spicer," he said. "Then and only then will there be 'rowdy activities' for you to look forward to…"

The doctor then left the youth in his room with a whole new incentive to heal up.

**_680. Profile-_**

Chase sighed upon entering his bedchambers to see the pale figure once more at the window, providing a stark profile against the dark clouds outside.

Oddly quiet and contemplative for one who was supposed to be an 'uncivilized barbarian,' as the lord's superiors had told him of his enemy, Prince Jakathrar had been at that window for days, only leaving it when absolutely necessary.

Since he'd awakened after the battle a week or so ago to discover himself a prisoner of war, the odd combination of royal and assassin had been supremely unhappy with his situation, retreating into the depths of his own mind and essentially refusing to yield any information save for name, rank, and military position.

Very little of this information was useful: at best, it allowed Chase the knowledge that the barbarian soldier should _not_ be left alone with any resources or given a good deal of space in which to move around seeing that, among his army, he was chief strategist and a speed-based operative. Were he allowed any resources, he would undoubtedly use his intellect to make said resources provide for his escape and too much space would allow him to run and gain enough momentum to be all but unstoppable.

Chase had already been enamored of his captive when young Jakathrar had been unconscious. Now that he'd awoken, ruby-red eyes having flickered open to display an ever-calculating mind behind them, always seeming to be searching for something, _anything_ he could use to flee…

The lord was more determined than ever to retain his battle-prize.

"Jakathrar," he addressed, seeing the young man idly turn away from the window to stare directly at him. Chase did not know much of the boy's barbaric tongue, but certainly more than anyone else in the confines of his keep, and the lord knew that were he in the captive prince's position, a familiar language would be comforting to him. _"I have brought you dinner,"_ the man informed.

For the first time in days, an emotion flickered across the pale youth's face, but it was not gratefulness as Chase had expected: it was, instead, amusement. _"Your accent is terrible,"_ Jakathrar stated matter-of-factly in much quicker, smoother syllables than the lord's inexperienced attempt. _"Besides that, you're speaking very formally; a very **specific** kind of formal. While I'm flattered that you're trying to respect me, Lord Young, I'm a prince, not a **god**."_

Golden eyes blinked in surprise, taking a moment to decipher the foreign words into a general statement he understood before darkening in a frown. "I am _trying_ to offer you comfort," he barked back in his own language. "The least you could do is accept it with decorum and not point out my failings in an unfamiliar tongue!"

The assassin sighed, glancing out the window at the stormy sky again. "I'm sorry," Jakathrar apologized sincerely. "I shouldn't be so sharp-tongued to you. I'm not…happy about this situation…being _owned_… But fair is fair: you bested me in battle, and you have every right to demand a reward for it. I wasn't expecting you to ask for _me_, but… No. That's still no excuse for taking it out on you…master."

Chase enjoyed that he was being referred to as such, 'master' being his proper title, but he did not enjoy that he was being called 'master' in such a somber, quiet tone.

"Jakathrar," he spoke softly, approaching the youth and placing the platter of food he'd brought upon the bedside table, "why are you upset over what is honor in both of our cultures? There is no shame in being my prize. I've no intention of harming or abusing you. I will not put you to work or force you to conspire against your own people. What issue do you take with my being your master?"

Jakathrar shifted, as if uncomfortable. "It's not service I'm scared of," the prince confessed. _"It is **consortship** of which I am terrified."_

Golden eyes widened as their owner determined the meaning of the sentence, despite the fact that the youth had clearly spoken in his language in the hopes that the lord would not understand what he was saying. "You believe I want you for a _whore_?" Chase demanded.

Red eyes widened in turn. "You _don't_?" the captive prince ascertained. At the man's defiant shake of the head, he inquired, "Then…what _is_ it you want with me?"

Chase stared seriously at his prize. "You…intrigue me," he admitted at last. "When I saw you on the battlefield, you were a demon and a ruthless killer. When I bested you, you became a helpless angel. I have never seen one colored such as you before either, Jakathrar, and I find you beautiful. Admittedly, I _had_ first thought to make you my bed-slave, but…then you awoke and I discovered that your mind and you yourself are just as intriguing as your body, if not _more_ so. I can tell that you are brilliant despite the fact that you are not wont to speak to me, and I was glad to have taken you as my prize knowing of your intelligence. I had hoped that I could perhaps know you as more than an enemy; not _necessarily_ as lovers know one another, but…I _would_ like to know you, Jakathrar."

The prince gazed dubiously at the lord's beautiful and handsome face, his trustless gaze softening to realize that this foreign man actually _wasn't_ mocking him with quips of his beauty and intelligence (as was often the case amongst his own people) and was _honest_ in his desire to know him.

Out of habit, Jakathrar's blood-red eyes slid to gaze out of the window. He had never been very well liked, particularly by his father who saw him as a disgrace to the royal lineage and had consequently cast him into the army in an attempt to keep him out of the public eye, but the youth had naturally thought that he would at least be sent aid and rescued as a matter of family loyalty and honor.

He had seen no sign of rescue for no less than twelve moons, and if no one had come for him by now, no one _was_ coming.

His eyes refocused upon the lord that had bested him and taken him prisoner.

The young soldier, trained essentially all his life for such a purpose, was intelligent enough to know that he would likely never see home again…but was that so bad a thing?

Jakathrar had never felt fulfilled as a warrior-prince; did not enjoy it in the least and had only ever felt _truly_ happy when he was instructed to think and to fabricate plans.

This was not very often with his people that so favored instinct and feelings over logic and reason and would rather charge into a battle on a gut-feeling alone than follow one of his carefully-planned strategies.

Here…with Lord Young…he would not be denied the chance to use his mind. While the man had said he would not be forced to conspire against his own people, it was extremely unlikely that his aid, if outright _offered_, would be denied, meaning a large opportunity for thinking and planning right there!

Besides that, Lord Young was a kind master so far and had given his word that the oddly-colored prince would not be made to do anything he did not wish to do (better than other masters who would often force war-prisoners into grueling slave-labor) and he actually had a physical and mental interest in him.

This was more than could be said of Jakathrar's kin who either disdained or ignored him unless they explicitly wanted or needed something of him, _especially_ his father.

The youth had been taught his whole life to fight for and be loyal to his people, to those that cared for him. His people did not care for him, he was well aware, so maybe…maybe he should instead fight for and be loyal to someone that actually _did_ seem to care whether he lived or died.

"I believe…I might like to know you as well, master," Jakathrar decided quietly, a slow smile spreading across his face at the pleasing prospect of his new life.

Had Chase not had the limited knowledge he did of the barbarian youth's tongue, he might've been quietly worried that the statement was a lie or that there was a plan for escape in that deadly-smart head when the boy's gaze fixed upon some mysterious thing past the window pane and snarled something foreign in a seething tone.

However, he _did_ know what he knew and so only gave a pleased grin at the statement, assured that Jakathrar would not be making any attempts to flee his keep anytime soon.

_"Fine, you sacks of goblin mucous,"_ was the basic gist of it, _"**don't** come for me; the lot of you can choke on hog snot for all I care! I expect I'll have a much better time here **anyways**!"_

**A/N:FINALLY, RIGHT? XD**

I know, I know, this one took awhile, but at first it was because school was busy and all, and then it was because I had, like, ten other stories I was trying to work on (and I still do, by the way, ), and THEN it was because _Restoration_ ended up _way_ longer than it should've been, and...but I digress!

**_Naughty-_ Continuation of _Sex-Ed_ and _Bunny_ from Chapters 30 and 42. Yay for Naughty hide-and-seek! XD**

_Balance-_ The idea of Jack being so uncoordinated that he fell out of bed during sex and Chase then taking the initiative to train him because of it is amusing to me. =3

_Feral-_ No comment.

_Restoration-_ Okay, I have to give Kellviete credit for this one, as she encouraged me to do inanimate-object Chack. As you can see, I ran with the idea and what was supposed to be a quick prompt for the lulz turned into a whole, huge, 'could probably stand on its own as a oneshot' fic. Although, it was at least a little amusing to write, I guess, plus I managed to work in Paul Cheechoo from the Secret Saturdays like I've been wanting to do since 'Ice Caverns of Ellef Rignes' first premiered FOREVER ago. That man has NOT wanted to be worked into an Anthology prompt, and trust me, I tried. XD

_Bagel-_ No comment.

_Wonderflonium-_ DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG. It's on Hulu. It's on Youtube. It's on Wikipedia. Look it up. =3

_Horse-_ This was requested by Ch4ckSl4sher and inspired by a picture on deviantART.

_Chia Pet-_ ...I'm ridiculous for even thinking this up, aren't I? XD

_Ibuprofen-_ Continuation of _Salubrious_ from Chapter 56. I'm thinking Nurse Clay is gonna be up there among the Great Nurses of History, like Hello Nurse and Nurse Joker. XD

_Profile-_ Continuation of _Horse_ from earlier in this chapter.

But so anyways, that's it, and I hope this chapter was worth the EXTRA-LONG wait! :D


	69. Chapter 69

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't mine.**

**Warning(s): Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--  
**

**_681. Nutcracker-_**

"Ha," Raimundo declared proudly, the look in his eyes disdainfully confident as he grinned at his opponent, "no _way_ I can lose against you, Spicer!"

The goth scowled in response, but refused to take his hand off the newly-activated Wu. "How 'bout _I_ pick the Showdown this time, then?" he more demanded than requested. "You've only picked the last hundred or so."

The Dragon of Wind conceded that this was true and so agreed. "Fine, Spicer," he said, "name your game."

Even though the young genius was to be picking the contest, Rai was not at all fazed: the albino was terrible at pretty much _everything,_ and in very real probability, the only thing the Brazilian could be beaten in by the other teenager was an emo contest.

"I'll Ro Sham Bo you for it," Jack declared.

"Fine," the monk agreed, only to pause in confusion. "Wait, what's Ro Sham Bo?"

"It's a game for deciding things," the genius informed. "I kick you in the balls as hard as I can and then you kick me in the balls as hard as you can, and then whichever one of us doesn't fall over wins."

Green eyes widened in horror at the knowledge of what he'd gotten himself into, and Rai exclaimed, "Wait, I don't wanna do _that-"_

"Too late, I go first!"

A thick, heavy boot abruptly rammed into the space directly between the monk's legs with absolutely no mercy, and the brunette gave a high-pitched squeak before clutching his family jewels and falling to the ground in a fetal slump.

"Yeah," Jack crowed victoriously, "steel-toed boots for the _win!"_

As the other monks gasped (two parts empathetic and one part worried of what was to happen to her personal dildo after being kicked so hard), a darkly amused chuckle rang out on the battlefield.

"Very nice, Spicer," the quite suddenly there Chase Young commented. "You knew he outmatched you, so you instead out_witted_ him. Perhaps that common sense is coming in, after all."

The goth predictably squealed, "Chase!" and launched himself at the man, clinging affectionately to his torso as if he were a lovesick woman from a romance novel who'd just seen her lost-at-sea love after fifty years.

_Un_predictably, Chase _allowed_ it, without so much as a scowl in protest. In fact, one powerful arm actually curled around the albino's waist, _keeping_ him where he was!

Before the not-writhing-in-pain monks could inquire about such a thing, however, the overlord coolly ordered, "Come, Spicer, let us dally here no longer. You've won the Shen Gong Wu and seeing you win for once has made me unbearably horny for you."

In the blink of an eye, the odd couple was gone, leaving the monks to stare at where they'd been in mute shock and confusion.

"I...I think one of them _popped,"_ Raimundo whimpered pathetically from the ground.

**_682. Scrooge-_**

"You're kidding, Spicer," Chase declared. "You _must_ be."

"Nope," Jack promised, "now, come on, dive in!"

"I am _not_ swimming in a pool of money," the everlord refused, glaring at the gigantic pool of green paper. The albino had assured him there was no chance of paper cuts; none of the bills were new and crisp and were instead older, used bills. It made no difference to Chase: he was _not_ getting in that pool.

"Aw, come on," the goth coaxed, popping out of the bills long enough to reveal he wore nothing but a pair of black swimming trunks. "It'll be fun!"

"It's juvenile, idiotic, and purely ridiculous besides," Chase asserted.

"I'm one of the richest bastards on the planet," Jack reminded. "I can afford it. Besides, haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to pull a Scrooge McDuck and swim in money?"

"No," the man flatly denied, folding his arms over his chest.

Jack engaged in what was truly an epic pout but quickly gave it up upon realizing his lover wasn't falling for it.

Luckily, his genius intellect kicked in and offered him the perfect strategy so as to get his way. "Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to have sex in a trillion-dollar pool, baby?" he coyly wondered.

Chase remained still for a grand total of three seconds before executing a perfect swan dive into the pool of Benjamins.

**_683. Loyalty-_**

The crowd cheered uproariously as the golden Dao was swung and sliced neatly through blood and gristle, deftly severing the defeated knight's head from his shoulders.

Prince Jack watched from the stands as well, pride filling him as his Chinese warrior once more won a battle with his preferred weapon.

Chase had been on an unstoppable winning streak since the moment he'd begun the tournament; decimating any and all opponents that chose to challenge him in battle. He was relentless, vicious, the _best_ to ever set foot in such an event, and he did it all for the purpose of defending Jack's honor and winning his favor!

It was more than flattering: coming from a man so virile and beautiful as he, it felt a privilege of the highest caliber, _despite_ the fact that it should have been trivial for the difference in the two men's status.

Jack cared nothing for the fact that Chase was 'beneath' him. All he cared about was the former general's loyalty and devotion to him, notwithstanding his strange coloring that had kept most of his peers in a constant state of superiority around him.

The handsome knight treated him as an equal, fought and killed for him, and most of all, found him appealing and had begun informally courting him (if one could call stealing kisses before each match in the tourney, spending time in between matches verbally seducing him, and doing so physically at any other opportunity courtship). Whatever way you put it, the young white-skinned prince was very much liking what this competition and his choice of knight had brought to him.

Golden eyes caught his from the center of the arena and Jack witnessed the man give him a tired-looking smirk of victory. He smiled back…

…and that was when Chase collapsed.

The crowd gasped in horrified shock and terror-stricken murmurs took the crowd. Was the brave knight dead? Had he been wounded? Was it fatal?

Jack bothered with no such questions.

Before any others attending the tournament could so much as blink, the young prince had practically sky-rocketed out of his seat and made a mad dash for the center of the arena; people were shoved out of the way and several leapt over, but soon enough, the noble had made it to his knight's side.

"Chase," he found himself gasping breathlessly, "are you alright?"

The warrior's eyes opened to focus on his charge, an expression of pain etched upon his face. "My prince," he spoke with difficulty, "I am…fine."

"Fine?" the albino youth snorted. "Of course; I collapse when I'm feeling fine, too."

Chase frowned. "It is nothing _serious,"_ he emphasized. "My opponent managed to slice open my side a bit, is all. I will live."

Deciding he would be the judge of that, the noble began undoing the clasps and ties of the elder man's armor in order to get a better look at the wound. This done, he closely inspected the profusely bleeding cut on Chase's side.

It wasn't all that deep and certainly not immediately fatal, but it looked as if an artery had been struck; the reason there was so much blood for such a seemingly insignificant wound. The knight had likely fainted just for the blood-loss.

Knowing that the loss of any more _could_ be fatal, Jack immediately stripped himself of his tunic (ignoring the affronted gasps of the ladies in the audience) and began ripping the fabric to his ends; soon fashioning one very long strip and folding the rest into a neat little rectangle about the size of his knight's wound.

Chase held back a scream of pain when the rectangle was placed against his bleeding side and held there with a good deal of force, instead merely grunting in discomfort. The pressure was necessary to halt the blood-flow. Eventually, the bleeding slowed to a point where his lord felt it acceptable enough and the younger man gave the stern order of, "Hold it there," while he went about taking the long, black strip of fabric and tying it tightly around the knight's middle so that the rectangle would not _have_ to be held.

This done, Jack glanced up from his warrior and lover to see no one in the arena but the two of them and the man Chase had just killed.

"Well?!" he demanded loudly. "Where in the name of Hell are the medics?!"

Two men immediately snapped out of their shock-induced stupor and scurried forward into the arena to at last do their jobs, lifting the victorious warrior onto a stretcher to be given proper medical care.

Chase prevented them from taking him away just yet.

The knight reached out and pulled his prince in close for a heated kiss (ignoring the affronted gasps that sounded again at the sight of not only two men with their mouths together, but being so _bold_ about it). He smirked at the dazed expression the albino gave him upon pulling away and purred, "Thank you for your service, my lord; I shall fight _twice_ as hard in the next match for your honor."

Jack smiled back at him, his grin practically beaming. "I look forward to seeing it," he replied as his lover was carried off to be treated.

**_684. Bactrachian-_**

It was nearing the end of mating season in the faerie community, and a little fae by the name of Jack was being driven batshit bonkers.

He was of the Firefly clan, meaning that when he was in the mood to copulate and therefore receptive to the attentions of other males (there _were_ no fae-females, any longer, as they could not die or grow old in the first place, making child-production unnecessary), his body would react chemically and allow him to emit bioluminescence from his lower abdomen.

Basically, when he was horny, his ass would glow, sending out a very clear demand of, "SEX!" to all surrounding fae.

It wasn't good for subtlety, Jack supposed, but he really wasn't all that modest in the first place, so, what the hell?

Regardless of the obviousness of his proposals for sex, the little firefly was frustrated beyond all reason: mating season was almost over and he had not yet mated anyone.

It wasn't that the opportunity had not presented itself, no: several times, Jack had been unable to repress his desire to get laid and many males had seen the blink that meant, "HORNY YOUNG FIREFLY, APPROACH TO FUCK." He had turned all who approached him down.

Jack had a very specific idea in his head of who he wanted to mate and _that_ was the reason he remained untouched: because Chase Young was an obstinate _bastard._

He had been flying around the jerk _all day,_ glowing like a nuclear strike in a diamond mine and the older fae had the _nerve_ to just sit there on a leaf and ignore him completely as annoying batrachians croaked in the pond below!

"What the _hell?!"_ he at last demanded, fed up. "Why aren't you _doing_ anything?! Here I am, glowing my ass off and trying to save myself for you, and you don't even have the courtesy to verbally tell me you don't want me?!"

Chase didn't even _look_ at him.

Jack audibly growled. _"Fine,"_ he said at last, "ignore me. Whatever. There's _plenty_ of other guys out there who'd love to tap my ass." Wings tired from flapping all day nonstop, the firefly alighted on the nearest leaf and practically collapsed onto his stomach, not even _caring_ how lewdly his rear end was presented to anyone who may be looking. "Come one, come all," he tiredly announced, rear end glowing in the night with bioluminescence, "I really don't give a fuck, just _somebody_ do me."

_This_ got Chase's attention along with that of several dozen males who happened to be in the area, and as the latter group began to approach, the former _scowled._

In the blink of an eye, Chase was on the other leaf with Jack, flipping him onto his back and straddling his hips even as he growled pure hatred at the approaching males.

Competition gone, the elder fae bent and began kissing seductively at the white youth's neck and chest.

"Oh, what the fuck?!" Jack demanded in annoyance, yet not quite annoyed enough to shove the other male off. _"Now_ you want me? Why do you want me _now_ and not all those other times _before?"_

"If you must know," Chase replied, "I wasn't in the mood before. That doesn't mean I want you to offer yourself up to anyone and everyone _else_ in the meantime."

"What was I _supposed_ to do?" the youth wondered. "I _was_ horny, hence the glowing ass, and you wouldn't even look at me!"

A soft glow emanated from the older fae's backside and he growled, pinning Jack more firmly to the leaf. "Shut up and let me fuck you," Chase ordered.

Jack found he really had no problem obeying that command.

**_685. Gibbous-_**

Chase eyed his find with mild confusion.

It was unusual to find _any_ beings lurking in the dark forest of his people after dark. They were all perfectly aware of the dangerous beasts that prowled about at such a time, and to see a distinctly human-shaped form upon the ground as he stalked his own prey of wild boars was…well, strange, to say the least.

Did this human not know the dangers of the forest? He was certainly too small and thin to be able to combat them as Chase was. Perhaps he had _already_ fallen victim to a creature of the night. He certainly wasn't moving all that much.

The man approached to get a closer look; seeing if he could spot and pools of blood or fatal wounds on this prone body that would indicate death.

A midnight breeze swept through the forest, temporarily pushing aside branches and leaves from trees overhead.

Chase froze in his tracks.

The moment the light of the gibbous moon touched the unconscious creature, his skin lit up like millions of glowing crystals, a pure and practically shimmering _white_ and his body jerked ever so slightly; a soft and helpless moan escaping his lips.

The man was stunned, but not stunned stupid. He remembered how for years he had been praying to the gods for a partner to rule beside him; how he had most often prayed to the traditional sun and earth gods for a beautiful and fertile woman to call his wife. Nothing had come of it. But recently…he had become desperate and beseeched a newer, more popular deity: the Goddess of the Moon, Antiope.

He…he had begged her for a lover; for one he could actually _love_ in more ways than physical. He had made no mention of gender to her.

There was little doubt in Chase's mind that this boy was some sort of answer to those prayers from a far more attentive goddess than those he'd before entreated.

The man stepped yet closer to the youth lying upon the dark soil and easily scooped the small body into his arms. His glowing skin had ceased to draw attention now that it was once more out of the moonlight that had most likely made him, but it was still quite obviously whiter than any human's flesh should be: a clear mark of where he'd come from no matter _what_ sort of lighting he could be placed in.

Chase paid little attention to it and simply secured his hold on the boy, beginning the trek back to his home with his well-deserved celestial gift in tow.

**_686. Antediluvian-_**

A woman had recently joined the tribe. Her looks were odd; leaf-green eyes, berry-red hair, and earthy-toned skin immediately marking her as a clear foreigner to this cooler region where eyes were most often blue, hair brown or light, and skin fair.

The pale-skinned boy had disliked her immediately, and that dislike had only grown when he saw the way her unnatural eyes (though he supposed _he_ couldn't much talk, his being red) had locked onto _his_ husband and remained there for an unnecessarily long time.

The golden-eyed warrior, after the younger male had managed to express his distrust of the woman to him in private, had assuaged his wife's fears with very little effort.

He'd gestured to the large cave in which they resided; the steady, warm fire, the lavish bed of mammoth furs and then to the sabertooth-necklace he yet wore around his neck, a memento of his days as a nomad.

_Look at what I have given you, _ he expressed, _what I have given up for you. I am your husband, and I am going nowhere. _

And for awhile, that had been enough.

But the dusky-skinned woman, as it turned out, _did_ wish to copulate with the warrior and was a persistent witch, indeed.

The boy spitefully watched as she used whatever excuse she could find to get time with _his_ husband (hunting with him, following him around, _touching_ him) and was only pacified by the fact that the warrior remained openly loyal to his wife and refused to show so much as a shred of interest in the female.

Besides, what could he have done, anyways? He was a gatherer, not a hunter: his skills lie in locating edible plants and collecting nuts and berries, not attacking and killing things.

And then…the woman went too far; _much_ too far.

To tolerate her incessant courtship was one thing. To allow her to fondle his husband against his will _in front of him_ was very much another.

The pale-skinned boy had little recollection of the actual event, only that he was _angry_ and that his husband's knife had been in _such_ easy reach…

The female currently lie dead upon the stone floor of the wedded couple's home, a bloodied hunting dagger clenched tightly in a white fist as a similarly colored body trembled from the force of his adrenaline and emotion.

The golden-eyed warrior approached his wife and gently tugged the antediluvian weapon from his grasp.

The youth allowed it without protest.

The knife was discarded and the man pulled his lover's body to him, forcefully ceasing the shaking of the slim, male form. The curious look red eyes gave him was largely ignored and a proud grin stretched across his handsome face.

_You killed her for me, _ the grin seemed to communicate. _She was a hunter and you a gatherer, and yet you managed to killed her simply because she touched me in a way you did not like. Such a devoted wife…_

His young lover relaxed against him and a smile slowly came to his lips. _I did, _ it appeared he concluded. _I killed her for trying to take what is **mine.** _

At perhaps the same time, husband and wife reached for each other's lips and kissed long and hard before moving themselves to their bed of furs, wanting nothing more than to rut each other into oblivion.

They paid no mind to the dead female still at the mouth of their cave as they loved with their bodies.

She was obviously deceased and easily noticed by the rest of the tribe, but she had only recently joined: she had no acquaintances or family within the group of people and would not be missed.

**_687. Silverware-_**

In the midst of washing the dishes, Sarah Young's Angel of Murphy decided to assert itself and the phone rang.

Pulling soaked and soapy hands out of the sink and quickly drying them on a towel, the woman headed for the phone in the other room, calling, "Chase, Jack, would you two mind finishing up the dishes while I get this?"

Two replies of, "Yes, mother," and, "Sure, mom," were all she needed to know that the task would get done and she left the kitchen to answer the still-ringing telephone.

Both boys had done some growing since their first romantic encounter some four years ago.

Chase, seventeen and in high school, had put on several inches in height along with an elegant and graceful move past awkward puberty and into manhood. He was young and looked it, but he was very frequently mistaken for a man in his early twenties, which often made things embarrassing for the older women (and occasionally men) that hit on him in public, believing him to be of a greater age than he was. He received plenty of attention from people his age in school, as well, due to his beautifully handsome face, and all hell had pretty much broken loose amongst his following of admirers when he'd decided to grow his hair long and only added to his already pleasing aesthetics.

Jack was not as lucky in his own situation. _He_ was twelve, now, right in the midst of the puberty that was wreaking havoc on his body. He wasn't very prone to acne, thankfully, and only got one or two small pimples every couple of months that were mostly unnoticeable, but he _had_ hit one _hell_ of a growth spurt. He was nearly as tall as Chase was, now, and it was certain that once he grew into adulthood, he would be _at least_ a few inches taller than his older step-brother. The height made him the tallest boy in his grade, offering him up as perfect fodder for, "How's the weather up there?" jokes and the like, and to add to the unfortunate curse of his height, he was also afflicted with a near-inability to gain weight, making him look ridiculously scrawny. Jack was tall, skinny, albinistically pale, and had an affinity for black clothing: the Jack _Skellington_ jokes were _unstoppable._

He tried not to let it bother him; after all, he'd soon be taking a placement test to determine what grade he belonged in prompted by the IQ-test he'd been made to take after Mrs. Young had discovered the working automaton he'd built out of the juicer. He was, as it turned out, a certified genius, with an intelligence quotient surpassing most of the brilliant scientific minds out there. Jack's plan, as he'd explained it to Chase, was to give the test everything he had and prove that he no longer _needed_ school: he was already smarter than most college graduates. He then intended to take the MacArthur Fellows Program test, for which he would without doubt qualify as a genius and be paid a $500,000 grant to sit around and do whatever he wanted. Then, when Chase graduated high school next year, he could help pay for his step-brother's college education and then the both of them could move out and get a home of their own.

It was a nice plan, and Chase was glad to have been included in it. What with the already-strange nature of their relationship, being step-brothers, and Jack now becoming increasingly aware that he likely _shouldn't_ have lost his virginity at so young an age as he did, it was nice to know the he wasn't at all put off to anything: he still felt deeply for Chase and wanted their clandestine affair to continue for a good while, even though he had a great deal more say in the matter as a genius on the verge of manhood than he had four years ago as a young boy.

For now, however, they were both living at home as children and washing the dishes as a favor to their occupied mother.

Chase immediately assumed the role of washing and Jack easily fell into the role of drying and the process went fairly swiftly (it was mostly only silverware left, after all).

After soaping up the final pasta sauce-caked spoon and rinsing it off, Chase handed the utensil to his gothic lover.

Jack's grip was not as steady as it should have been and so the spoon slipped out of his hand and splashed into the soapy dishwater. A white hand dove in after it and soon found itself held by another, given a firm, affectionate squeeze within the temperate and sudsy waters of the sink.

The younger boy grinned at the gesture and turned to look at the kitchen door, making sure Mrs. Young was still on the phone in the other room.

She was.

Quick as lightning, Jack snuck a saccharine, little smooch upon Chase's cheek, causing the high schooler to smirk and playfully nudge his lover away.

Soon enough, the final spoon was rewashed and the dishes were done, leaving the boys' task complete and Jack slyly wondering, "Who's she on the phone with, you think?"

Chase listened from the kitchen doorway for a moment, and quickly concluded, "It sounds like she's gossiping with Gina again."

"She'll be talking for another hour and a half, then, _at least,"_ the younger boy quipped. Then, a dark grin overtook his features: a mischievous one that once more reminded Chase that Jack was smack dab in the middle of puberty. "Think we've got time for a quickie before she comes bugging us again?"

Chase laughed silently and assured, "I'd say we've got time for about four of them, Jack."

His wrist was caught and he was quickly dragged upstairs to their shared bedroom. "What the hell are we waiting for?" Jack inquired hypothetically with a charming smile and twinkling ruby eyes. "Let's see if we can make it _five."_

Chase followed without protest, offering only, "I truly _like_ the way you think, Jack…"

**_688. Pasty-_**

"Spicer, come in here, already."

"Yeah, yeah," the teen grumbled, at last exiting the bathroom for the bedroom, "I'm comi-………"

Chase grinned sharply as his lover stopped in his tracks at the sight of him, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

Several weeks ago, he had coaxed Jack into a slight bit of roleplay and had the albino dressed in ancient Chinese finery of a style that marked him as a royal catamite. It was possibly one of the hottest things the dragonlord had ever seen: his modern gothic lover all dolled up in sophisticated clothing, and in _his_ colors! Chase very clearly recalled never having been more turned on in his life than at that moment.

He had decided to treat Spicer to such a wonderful feeling, as well.

Jack's mouth was opening and closing in a manner akin to a fish out of water at the sight of Chase Young lounging upon his bed _dressed like a goth._ Heavy, black boots were worn upon his feet and a pair of black jeans nicely displayed long, lean legs that led up to the skull-belt slung low around the man's waist. A tight, black t-shirt hid his chest from view, but the snugness of the clothing beautifully outlined each and every well-developed muscle; from perfect pecs to awesome abs. Strips of leather adorned both wrists and neck and were decorated with silver studs, and as red eyes at last drifted up to his lover's face, Jack nearly swooned.

Chase had put on _eyeliner_ for him; not to an extreme, but a thin outline that made the gold of his eyes _pop_ in just such a way so as to have them glimmering and glittering _wonderfully_ in the bedroom lighting.

He was no scrawny, pasty goth kid, but he _was_ pure sex in black clothing.

"Well, Spicer?" the everlord purred, snapping the youth out of his near-comatose state. "Aren't you going to come 'entertain the man you brought home from the night club'?"

Jack licked his lips, swallowed hard, and said, "You bet your sweet ass, I am, Mysterious Stranger," and pounced.

**_689. Ping-Pong-_**

TONK!

"Spicer…"

TONK!

"--I'm warning you--"

TONK!

"--for the last time--"

TONK!

Chase growled, a horrid, hideous sound of fury and caught the little plastic ball before it could bounce against his head even one more time. "You are forbidden from using ping-pong equipment anywhere but in the game-room, dammit!" he snarled.

"Awww," Jack moaned, the arm that'd been poised to knock the ball back with the table-tennis racket. "You're no fun…"

The dragonlord huffed and returned to his reading.

Slowly, his goth lover's hand began drifting towards his pants-pocket, where another ping-pong ball rested, just _begging_ to be hit at Chase's head.

_Don't_ even think about it, Spicer," the man growled.

Jack meeped, hand going back to his side. "Okay, okay, I get it! 'Stop being annoying,' got it."

"Oh, I doubt _that,"_ Chase said, rolling his eyes, "but so long as you knock off the ping-pong, I think we'll be alright."

"Hey!" the youth indignantly exclaimed.

**_690. Noir-_**

"You know," Jack idly commented as the black-and-white movie played upon the television screen, "noir is more than just a film style. It's the French word for 'black.'"

"Indeed," Chase confirmed, "and the term _bête noir_ is used in popular culture to describe an idea or object that is avoided and disliked."

"I've always identified with the 'black beast,' actually," the goth said. "I felt avoided and disliked for a lot of my life because of my albinism. Once people got close enough, they hated me for my clothing and my personality, but even before all that, it was my skin that put people off. Like I was the _bête blanc_ or something."

The warlord pulled the albino closer to him. "You are no 'beast,' Spicer," he promised. "If _anyone_ is a beast, it is me: the _bête lézard."_

Jack made a sympathetic noise in his throat and cuddled closer to his lover.

"It doesn't matter what the peons of the world think of us, in any case," Chase reminded. "We are their rulers: they will hate us and fear us because we enslave them; because we are more powerful and can strike them down in a second before they can so much as lay a finger on us. Besides…" The man pressed a kiss to his beloved's lips. _"Le bête blanc sera toujours l'amour de son bête lézard. Je t'aime."_

"D'awww," Jack cooed, teasing, "you're such a multilingual softie, Chase… _Je t'aime trop."_

_--  
_

**A/N: _Nutcracker-_ Inspired by a comic drawn by sanely-insane over at deviantART where pretty much the same thing happens. Thank you for being awesome, sanely-insane! :D**

**_Scrooge-_ No comment. XD**

**_Loyalty-_ Continuation of _Brandish_ and _Calumny_ from Chapters 55 and 56 respectively; inspired by Silvarbelle! ^^**

**_Bactrachian-_ Also inspired by Silvarbelle, who was inspired by the fireflies advertising for sex outside of her window! XD**

**_Gibbous-_ This will probably be continued; almost _certainly_ so. :D**

**_Antediluvian-_ Continuation of _Violently_ and _Standing_ from Chapters 58 and 59 respectively.**

**_Silverware-_ Continuation of _Pedophile_ and _Childhood_ from Chapters 23 and 24. Chronologically, _Silverware_ would go right in the middle of them (_Childhood, Silverware_ and then _Pedophile_). This one was inspired by RedLioness.**

**_Pasty-_ Silvarbelle accidentally gave me the idea for this one. ;P**

**_Ping-Pong-_ No comment. XD  
**

**_Noir-_ 'Noir' means 'black,' 'bête noir' means 'black beast,' 'bête blanc' means 'white beast,' 'bête lézard' means 'lizard beast,' 'le bête blanc sera toujours l'amour de son bête lézard' means 'the white beast will always be loved by his lizard beast,' 'je t'aime' means 'I love you,' and 'je t'aime trop' means 'I love you, too.' Somebody pointed out to me that their French teacher told them that 'je t'aime' means 'I like you' and 'je t'adore' means 'I love you,' but I found in my research that 'je t'adore' means 'I adore you' and 'je t'aime' does, in fact, mean 'I love you.' There's even a movie titled, 'Paris, je t'aime (Paris, I love you)' to back that knowledge up. Of course, I realize that it could be a 'changing culture' sort of issue, where the teacher said as much because 'je t'adore' USED to mean 'I love you' and 'je t'aime' only meant 'I like you,' but that it had changed in recent times and 'je t'aime' had come to mean 'I love you' instead of 'je t'adore.' In addition, it also could be the other way around, and the teacher would be right because 'je t'aime' would've been the one that USED to mean 'I love you' but the language had recently changed and it's 'je t'adore' that currently means 'I love you.' No matter what the case, I'm just going to leave it as 'je t'aime' for convenience's sake. ^^;  
**

**In any case, there's the long-awaited Chapter 69 for Anthology of Love! That said, I've only got one thing to say: LOL, _69._ XD**

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked the chapter! :D **


	70. Chapter 70

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

_--_

**_691. Rabble-Rouser-_**

"I'm sure you deserved this."

"Oh, fuck you, that's not fair," Jack complained from the confines of the holding cell. "I didn't _do_ anything, Chase, I _swear!"_

The man folded his arms over his chest and turned to look at the policewoman that had led him to his lover's cell. "Officer?" he prompted.

The young woman straightened and read off the list of charges. "Initiating a full-scale riot, looting, damage of public _and_ private property, responsibility for the injury of the twenty five citizens that were trampled in the riot, and last but not least, a parking violation; it's illegal to park in that area during the listed hours."

Golden eyes flickered back to the albino sitting in the holding cell, one eyebrow arching elegantly. "And _that's_ what you call 'not doing anything,' Spicer?"

Jack blinked quietly for a moment, his expression clearly one of, 'BUSTED.' "Erm," he began, "it's not that I…uh, I didn't _mean_ to…" He soon gave up. "I didn't think it'd get that out of hand," he meekly excused.

Chase snorted but handed a thick wad of bills to the police officer, who quickly moved to let the younger man out of the cell. "You're incredibly lucky I can afford to buy off the government, law enforcement agencies, _and_ the media, Jack," he said. "If I couldn't, you and I would be over faster than you could blink; if only for financial reasons."

Head bowed, the goth followed his lover out of the police station, muttering, "Sorry…"

"Why must you always be such a rabble-rouser, Spicer?" the man demanded the moment they hit the cold, winter streets outside, headed towards the black limousine waiting for them. "Fighting all these causes all the time…hasn't it ever occurred to you that you would be a better activist for a cause if you protested _non_-violently? You're doing more harm than good this way!"

"I'm sorry," Jack repeated dejectedly, obediently sliding into the vehicle after his lover.

"One of these days," Chase asserted, "you're going to get yourself permanently imprisoned or worse, killed, and then what? Then, who'll care that homosexuals are being repressed? That you're _gone?"_

"I'm sorry…"

The wealthy man sighed and pulled the youth close to him. "Stop _doing_ this, Jack," he demanded. "Go to rallies and fund-raisers and _peaceful_ protests; _not_ riots."

Jack refused to answer the demand for a long moment, breathing in Chase's scent. "Would you _really_ leave me if you couldn't afford to cover up the shit I do?" he inquired at last.

"No," Chase answered honestly. "I would sell everything I owned first and then tie you up in our new cardboard box of a home to keep you from doing anything further."

The goth hugged his lover. "Okay," he conceded. "I'll…knock off the illegal stuff. I promise."

Chase smiled. "Thank you." With a gesture to the driver (possessed of the ill-fated name 'Jeeves,' unfortunately), the limousine then drove off into the night.

**_692. Crooked-_**

Jack groaned as his consciousness returned to him after what felt like eons.

…or at least he _would_ have if he could.

Oftentimes, he cursed his life: born both albino _and_ mute, as if the first wasn't curse enough. Not only did he look freakish with his white skin and hair and his demonic eyes, but when mocked and shunned by his peers, he had no way of communicating with them to show that he really _was_ normal and didn't deserve to be looked down upon.

All he could do at the moment was sit up from what looked to be a bed of furs and try to remember what he'd last been doing, in the hopes that it would bring him an answer as to where he was now.

The young man's mind immediately brought forth the recollection of the hunting trip his father had forced him into coming along on. He remembered having protested, or trying to, but his father had never bothered to learn sign language for his only son and had not read the notes Jack had given him saying he didn't want to go and would much rather stay home and read, as he spent most of his days, anyways.

The man ignored him and gathered horses, dogs, and men (including a family friend that Jack had always been…leery of) and dragged his son off into a wild forest, where it was rumored that not only fabulous game, but a tribe of dangerous head-hunters that no one had ever seen before lurked.

Jack had hated every minute of it, he remembered: he could shoot nothing for his terrible eyesight (the low light had offset his fabulous aim), he was beginning to chafe in unmentionable places from the consistent sitting upon the saddle of the near-wild horse he'd been given, and Alistair, the family friend, had shot him disgustingly perverted looks the entire time.

It had gotten to the point where his father had ordered that they stop and rest for the night and resume the hunt in the morning. Jack had been quite close to much-deserved sleep when Alistair made his move.

The crooked man had molested him, trying unsuccessfully to seduce the son of his wealthy acquaintance into a passionate and secretive roll in the hay.

Naturally, Jack wanted nothing to do with it, and had fled the unwanted attentions post-haste, desperately wishing he were back in the familiar townhouse his family had in London.

Unfortunately, he was caught. Alistair had thrown him to the ground and torn off his clothing, assuring the youth that they _would_ be engaging in sex whether he wanted it or not.

It was incredible luck for that wild cat to leap out of the brush and tackle the would-be rapist just as he was unbuttoning his trousers.

The beast mauled him, tearing huge chunks of flesh from the man's body and spraying blood everywhere, including one vicious jerk of teeth upon arm that pulled the limb _off_ and splattered blood all over Jack's horror-stricken face.

He remembered watching the beast devour Alistair like the wild animal it was and slowly, _slowly,_ he'd eased himself to his feet.

The cat, looking to be a jaguar, turned its eyes upon him immediately, a glowering gold that stood out sharply in the night, and Jack had frozen, meeting that cold, killer's stare. They had stared at one another for a few seconds that felt like an eternity…

…and then, the cat had turned back to its meal, obviously dismissing the other human as a threat or a second course.

Jack clearly recalled breathing a quiet sigh of relief and turning to slink away again, still moving slow so as not to get the jaguar's predatory attention by running.

He'd tried to scream (but physically couldn't, of course) when he almost immediately bumped into a man's chest, feeling as if he'd instead walked into a solid wall of muscle.

He had glanced up and seen a wild-looking man, with a handsome face and dark hair dressed in the manner of a savage. Blood was smeared upon his cheeks in a tribal design and he looked coldly upon the young albino with the same golden predator's eyes that the jaguar still feasting upon his father's friend possessed.

Jack had seen those eyes and remembered the stories of the vicious band of head-hunters, and…

Well, he supposed he must have fainted, because that was the last thing he remembered.

Looking around, he judged himself to be in a hut of some sort; a primeval residence that could only logically belong to the man he had last seen.

His thoughts naturally turned to panic and he sprung up from the bed of animal furs and darted to the door, only to find it unopenable; it must've been locked from the outside. Desperate for escape, he wandered the entire hut on fast feet, looking for another door or a window he could flee from.

He found none: there was only one way into this place, and one way out, and that was the door he had already unsuccessfully tried.

Honestly frightened, but knowing there was absolutely nothing he could do, Jack returned to the bed of furs, taking comfort in the softness of a blanket made of what appeared to be rabbit-fur.

His red eyes trained themselves on the door of the hut, and with the slight trembling of his form giving away his fear, Jack quietly waited for the savage man to return and seal his fate.

**_693. Captain-_**

It began as an ordinary day for the young man known as Sagacious Spicer. His captain had asked of him to chart a map of the current sea they were in. The man already had one, of course, as the waters had been charted before, but it was not a _Spicer-_map, and so while it was usable for the time being, a more precise and accurate map was desired.

Who better than Jack to provide it?

He had been hard at work on it, making calculations and meticulous lines so as to provide the best example of his work possible. He idolized his captain, truly: the man was a cold and ruthless pirate, a true scourge of the seas and wicked to the core, and yet as the leader of his crew, he was stern, but fair: an iron fist in a velvet glove.

Mmm, and good _lord,_ was he a handsome devil!

The map-maker, like some men did, preferred the company of other men as opposed to women, and he could not have found a greater piece of eye-candy than in his captain.

Chase Young was downright _beautiful:_ that perfectly-sculpted body, that gorgeous, masculine face, that long and flowing mane, and oh, his _eyes!_

On those lonely nights when the lack of sexual contact forced him to bring himself orgasm, Jack thought of nothing more than that perfect specimen of man making love to him, and the whole thing became a very _quick_ affair.

He had, of course, dismissed all hopes of that happening in _real_ life before he could even have them: Chase had shown no signs of having any sexual interest (heterosexual, much less homosexual) whatsoever, and to think he, a simple map-maker on the infamous pirate's ship would somehow manage to bed the man? Ridiculous!

…Or at least, he'd _thought_ so before this particular moment.

He had been working hard on the map his captain had commissioned him to make when the Dark Dragon of the East himself had come down into the ship to check on his progress and watch the map being made as he occasionally did.

It was often hot in the bowels of the ship, and it was a normal occurrence for Jack, who spent nearly all of his day there for his duties and aversion to harsh sunlight, to have his shirt largely undone.

Feeling he could stand the heat no more and thinking no issue of it, the young albino unbuttoned his shirt all the way and slipped the garment off entirely.

Chase had growled low in his throat, the type of predatory noise he often made when attacking his foes on the high seas, and before Jack could fully wonder if it'd been a mistake to strip, the map in progress and the tools of his trade were cleared off of his work table and the man pinned him to it.

Now, several rounds of sex later and lounging in his cot, Jack found the time to ask, "Not that I'm not grateful, but…where did all that come from, Captain?"

"Pent-up lust, Spicer," Chase coolly replied, holding the albino's white-skinned and sweat-soaked body close to his own. "These months of watching you have taken their toll, and I found I could no longer resist you."

Jack blinked, confused. "Wait…you were watching _me?"_ he inquired. "I thought you were overseeing the drawing of my maps…"

"A flimsy and pitiful excuse," the elder man admitted. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't uncover the truth any sooner, smart as you are."

"I apologize, my captain," the youth teased, "but I'm afraid I haven't much people skills. You ought to have told me you wanted to fuck me; I'd have bent over for you the moment you said the word."

Chase smirked, and Jack found himself getting hard from simple so attractive a look. "It is good to know how willing you are, my Sagacious Spicer." His golden eyes flicked downwards to his new lover's growing arousal. "Is it safe to assume you're ready for another round?"

Jack grinned coyly. "Well…if you think that map can wait…"

The captain of the great ship _Immortality_ deftly rolled his map-maker over and mounted him, lustily assuring, "The map can wait…"

**_694. Public Relations-_**

Chase ignored the women screaming his name. He ignored the reporters and news anchors shoving microphones and notepads in his face, asking for statements and quotes. He ignored the flashing bulbs of hundreds of cameras taking thousands of pictures of him per minute.

He pretended that none of these people were even _here_ and continued the walk from his limousine to the front door of his lavish and luxurious townhouse.

Once behind it, being sure to do up the eight necessary locks, the cool, collected façade dissipated and the actor collapsed to the couch in the den; not even caring that his normally graceful form was sprawled upon the velvet cushions like a carelessly thrown ragdoll.

It wasn't long before he heard footsteps approaching and felt his entire upper-body being hefted off the sofa so that someone else could sit, soon lowered back down onto a warm lap.

"Poor baby…" his lover cooed, stroking his hair. "You hate them all, don't you?"

Chase allowed a sigh of pleasure to escape his lips, the tension-headache he'd had all day finally beginning to fade away. "Yes," he replied, "I do."

Jack chuckled softly. "Sometimes, I wonder how a misanthrope like you managed to get into showbiz, babe."

"Because," the thespian matter-of-factly informed, "I am an impeccable actor. I can fake an amazing range of emotions and feelings for the camera whenever I wish without the need for my motivation."

"It's taking one hell of a toll on you, though," his albino lover pointed out. "You're working too hard: four commercials, innumerable public appearances, a _movie…_ You're too antisocial for this. You're gonna drop dead in a week while plugging the latest thing by Calvin Klein or whatever."

"You know why I'm doing this," Chase murmured quietly as those dexterous, white fingers began massaging his scalp, dispersing his headache all the quicker.

Jack frowned. "The paparazzi?" he questioned. "I told you, I don't _care_ what they say about m-"

"You can say as much until you're blue in the face, Spicer," the elder man interrupted, "but I _know_ it bothers you; what they say."

The youth sighed inaudibly: it was true. He _hated_ the way magazines and news reporters and various online sources spoke of him. It was hard enough to live life _normally_ as a gay, albino goth who tinkered with machines in his spare time and sold his inventions.

As an infamous actor's lover and very strongly established _boyfriend?_ It was just about impossible.

He couldn't even leave the house anymore. Every time he tried, he would be assailed by paparazzi and his lover's jealous fangirls, accusing him of all manner of ridiculous things ranging from being some kind of supernatural demon/mad scientist trying to take over the world to building some kind of mind-control device to _force_ Chase to love him, 'cause that was the only way such a hot guy would ever go for such a weird-looking, nerdy freak.

"I will become even better for you," Chase promised. "I'll increase my popularity and my skills to the extent that _no one_ will be able to say anything about you."

"Chase…" Jack said quietly, a frown on his face.

_"For you,"_ the actor emphasized, rolling over onto his back so that while he remained in his beloved's lap, he could now see the youth's face, "I can force myself to associate with the scum I so deeply hate. You, and _only_ you."

The goth smiled despite himself, and when his boyfriend half-sat up so as to kiss him, he welcomed it warmly.

"You're mine," Chase informed in a husky whisper upon pulling away.

"I love you, too," Jack reciprocated. "But if you're going to insist on doing all this crap for me…at least promise me you'll take a vacation, soon; a nice, _long_ one. I seriously don't want you working yourself to exhaustion and/or death because of me."

Chase gave his lover a winning smile, the type he often gave to his fans at his public appearances; the difference was that in this case, it wasn't faked. "I can do that," he agreed. "We'll spend a whole month in Santorini; just the two of us."

Jack's red eyes brightened. "No paparazzi, no screaming fans, no work…" he softly declared. "Just _us…"_

"Paradise," Chase purred, reaching up for another slow, hot kiss.

**_695. Terms-_**

Jack supposed that one might call it rape.

On multiple grounds and technicalities, it _was._

He had never given verbal consent. The sex took place in the middle of the night, waking him from a peaceful slumber so that it could take place. More often than not, it was rough; occasionally even a little painful. He wasn't even in a relationship with the man who did it to him. If one wanted to nitpick, he was only seventeen, below the legal age of consent in China, which made it statutory rape, as well.

Night after night, it happened, and he would wordlessly be coaxed into sex without ever once seeing his partner's face, a hand clamped firmly but gently over his mouth to silence any cries he might give.

And yet, Jack didn't _feel_ that it was rape. That term…describing a dark and horrible act committed only by the worst of the worst…was _wrong_ for what this was.

Perhaps it was because he _knew_ the big, powerful hand that covered his mouth; _knew_ the hard, masculine body that fucked him to a blissful oblivion nightly; _knew_ that strong and very much distinct scent that he afterwards smelled upon his sheets.

He _knew_ the voice that quietly made itself known at the very end, that soft, pleasure-roughened grunt of, "Spicer," that sounded when his nightly companion came inside of him.

By all accounts, means, purposes, terms, and grounds, it was rape, but Jack knew deep inside that it wasn't.

Chase Young would never; _could_ never rape him, because you simply can't rape the willing.

**_696. Conditions-_**

Chase wasn't quite sure why he had allowed Phooka to talk him into this.

Admittedly, he _was_ a filthy rich bachelor with no plans of settling down or producing children with a woman whatsoever, but…to scour orphanages searching for an heir to his fortune?

Who was he, Oliver Warbucks?!

Still…he _supposed_ it'd been an acceptable idea, considering that he had, indeed, found a child he could tolerate. The bright-eyed, little eight-year-old that went by the name of Omi was trotting along beside him, looking happy as a clam to have finally been picked by a prospective parent. All that was left to do was fill out the paperwork, and he could bring the boy home to live as his adopted son.

He followed the woman in charge of the orphanage and Omi followed him through the halls towards the office in which business was done…

…only to freeze as he caught a quick glimpse of something _white._

Omi couldn't stop in time, and so when his soon-to-be father stopped in the middle of the hallway, he bumped into his leg with a soft, "Oof," drawing the Head-Mistress' attention.

"Mr. Young?" she inquired upon seeing the man staring off into space down another hall. "Are you alright?"

"I'm…fine," Chase slowly answered, frowning. "I suppose I just…thought I saw someone…"

The Head-Mistress _scowled._ "I _told_ that boy to stay out of sight," she growled quietly, before authoritatively barking, "Jack Spicer, you come out here _this instant!"_

The trillionaire blinked, startled, when a young man stepped out of the shadows of the other hallway. His skin was corpse-pale and his eyes and hair were a shocking _red,_ the beauty of which struck the man immediately. Everything else about the teenager, however, was quite obviously _wrong._

He was appalling filthy and _covered_ in an array of bruises and cuts. He wore black and tattered clothing that just _barely_ amounted to rags. Worst of all, he was anorexically scrawny; looking to be not much more than a skeleton with skin.

In a subdued and raspy voice, the youth quietly spoke, "Hi, Head-Mistress..."

_"What_ are you doing here?" the woman snapped. "I thought I told you to remain in your room!"

"I'm sorry, Head-Mistress," the boy sheepishly apologized. "I just…I wanted…" his red eyes flickered over to Chase, "to see him…"

"That's no excuse-"

"You know me?" Chase cut the woman off, stepping forward and fixing his eyes firmly upon the pathetic-looking orphan.

"Of course I do," the youth answered immediately, his desolate expression brightening the moment he received attention from the older man. "You're Chase Young: the famous weapons mogul. I've…I've, erm, always wanted to work for you," he admitted.

The wealthy man raised a curious eyebrow. "Work for me?" he questioned.

"Yeah," the orphan chirped, "I'm pretty good with machines and robotics and stuff, so, y'know, I thought maybe I could-"

"Jack…" the Head-Mistress warned, a subtle tone of _threat_ in her voice.

Chase did not miss it; neither did he miss the way the young man flinched, his lovely red eyes going wide with fear.

"Uh, I have to, um…go now," Jack hurriedly excused, a stutter immediately making itself apparent in his voice. "Hope things work out with you and Omi, there, I'll see y-"

"No," Chase stated.

The Head-Mistress was the only one who inquired, "No?" aloud, but both orphans were thinking it.

"No," the wealthy man reiterated. He turned his gaze to the older youth, informing, "I am the type of man that doesn't mind taking risks. I've no proof you're as good with machinery as you claim to be, but I'm willing to chance it: you're hired."

Red eyes brightened with glee. "Wow, really?!" Jack exclaimed. "Awesome! I won't let you down, I swear-"

"Hold on a moment, Mr. Young," the Head-Mistress once more interrupted. "You can't hire him! He's too young for that kind of job, and besides, how can he work for you if he's living here?"

"He won't be," Chase flippantly decided. "I'm adopting him, as well."

The woman nearly protested that, but she was deftly cut off.

"Unless," the trillionaire added, "you'd like the horrible conditions you've kept young Spicer in exposed to the authorities and run the risk of having your entire orphanage closed down…?"

It was something of a bluff that Jack was being kept in less than amiable conditions, but his physical state alone was enough of an indication that it could be used as a threat.

As expected, the Head-Mistress blanched and, without a word, rushed off to her office to fetch the adoption papers for both Jack and Omi.

Chase grinned, pleased with himself as the eldest of the orphans came to stand by his side.

In his mind, he had already labeled Omi as his son and could not accept Jack as such, as well. Nonetheless, he saw no real harm in gaining a new employee/houseguest along with his son.

Grudgingly, the wealthy bachelor resolved to thank Phooka should either his heir or added staff-member end up working out.

**_697. Private-_**

Jack's every nerve went to full attention when the door of the hut finally unlocked and swung open.

He was proven right when the man of the night previous stood there in the doorway, looking even more handsome and intimidating than he did in the current daylight: his catlike eyes glimmered brightly; beautifully, and the blood on his face was a full, fresh red instead of the dark splotches they'd been last night.

The youth stared blankly at the man; in the time he'd been left alone, trapped in this hut, he had come to terms with his fate of death: he found he was no longer afraid.

The man stared coolly back at him before closing the door behind him and approaching the wealthy Englishman's son.

Jack wasn't quite sure what to make of it when the wild-man sat beside him, crossing his legs and looking as nonthreatening as a man such as him _could_ look. Even so, there was still an aura about him that clearly broadcasted that he had killed before and could _easily_ kill again.

There was silence for a good deal of time.

Red eyes warily made contact with gold, not so much afraid as…curious.

Why had he not been killed, yet? Why were they just…sitting here?

"Cat got your tongue, boy?" the head-hunter suddenly spoke up.

Jack inhaled sharply, startled. This man…he…spoke English? _Perfect_ English, without so much as a hint of unfamiliarity?

The man saw the look Jack gave him and sneered. "What's wrong?" he challenged. "Did you not think I could speak your language? Did you assume that because I am a 'savage' that I am incapable of learning?"

The albino's cheeks flushed from shame and embarrassment: he _had_ been thinking something quite like that.

"I am very much capable of learning," the head-hunter coolly informed. "I held a man captive for months and _forced_ him to teach your tongue to me. Do you know why?"

Jack tentatively shook his head 'no.'

"Because I wanted to understand the pleading last words of my victims before I killed them," the man answered.

Jack's eyes went wide and he felt very much like screaming; goddamn his inability to do so.

A scream or some other verbal reaction had obviously been what the dark-haired man had wanted, and he frowned at the youth's silence. "What's wrong, boy?" he demanded. "Why do you refuse to speak?"

The albino swallowed hard and frowned at his inability to verbally explain his problem. Instead, he placed a hand to his throat and shook his head.

It took a moment, but this savage was no brainless idiot, and a look of realization soon crossed his face. "Ah," he hummed, "mute?"

Jack nodded.

The man appeared to consider this for a moment. "That will make communication a bit difficult," he mused. Nonetheless, he introduced, "I am Chase. Can you spell your name?"

The youth was honestly offended by the very notion that he could not write: he was an intellectual, a _genius!_ Of _course_ he could spell his own name!

…Then again, this man _did_ stumble upon him running away aimlessly in a forest in the middle of the night dressed in not a single shred of clothing. Perhaps that _did_ look a bit incongruous with the usual intellectual appearance he tried to maintain.

Instead of having a silent hissy fit, he simply turned to the dirt floor and drew his name in the soil with one finger, upside down so it could be read by the other male.

Chase read the letters in the dirt and inquired, "Jack?"

The albino confirmed that that was, indeed, his name with another nod.

This seemed to please the man. "Well, Jack," he began, "to the matter at hand…there are very few reasons for a youth to be nude and frightened in the presence of another man. Is it safe to assume that the man you were with had…less than favorable intentions?"

The look the boy gave was enough of an answer, and Chase frowned darkly. "Clearly, it was the correct choice to kill him, then."

Red eyes blinked in confusion, obviously thrown for a loop by that whole sentence. The _jaguar_ had killed Alistair…and why would Chase care what he'd been about to do to him? He was a _murderer._

The man had obviously been faced with such questions before, for he knew precisely what the look Jack gave him meant. "Before I learned your tongue of English," he informed, "my language was that of the animals in this forest. I was brought up among them, and when I saw what that…despicable thing was about to do to you," he spat, "I saw no harm in coaxing a friend of mine to step in."

The look of confusion remained: that still didn't answer the question of why rape seemed to bother the head-hunter.

Chase deduced the source of the confusion immediately and spoke, "Yes, I kill. It is the way of nature: kill or be killed. I kill to survive and when it is deserved. Rape is a very different thing." He paused to sneer derisively. "There is no _reason_ for rape: it does not help an individual survive or defend themselves from others; instead it _harms_ an individual, physically and mentally, and often irreparably. There is nothing more despicable in this world than what that man was trying to do to you."

Jack frowned for a moment and then once more brought his hand to the dirt, wiping away his name and writing the question, 'Why am I here?'

Chase did not sugarcoat the issue and plainly stated, "I understood immediately why he lusted after you, though I do not approve of the way he attempted to win you; you are pleasing to look upon, and you would make an excellent lover. _That_ is why you are here, Jack: I wish to make you _my_ lover."

The youth gaped at him for a moment, wondering just what in God's name _this_ kind of hypocrisy was.

The head-hunter interrupted his shocked thoughts with the declaration, "I will not rape you…but neither will I allow you to leave here. As far as I'm concerned, you are mine, and will remain with me for as long as I wish you to."

Jack was still gaping like a trout when the man pulled him close and kissed him full on the lips, tongue sliding brazenly into his open mouth, and then breaking the kiss by getting to his feet.

"I will return shortly," Chase purred to his newly-declared lover. "I will bring you something to eat when I get back."

The man was gone out the door with no further word, shutting the door behind him. Jack did not even think of trying it, knowing it would be locked.

Instead, he simply sat there on the ground within the head-hunter's private quarters, trying desperately to process all that'd just happened.

**_698. Policy-_**

Young Enterprises had never been doing better financially.

Twelve new weapons had hit the market in the past three months, each one a technological _marvel_ that not only shattered all expectations of modern machinery, but raked in millions of dollars in revenue, and it was all thanks to the recent hiring on of Jack Spicer.

Phooka had never been smugger, Chase decided, as the first thing the Celtic man said to him whenever they conversed these days was, "I told you so."

He had purposefully sent his friend out to a gay bar (without telling him as much, of course) just to put an end to the gloating and perhaps knock him down a peg or two. Who knew? Perhaps the other man might even go home with a girly-looking boy on his arm and not even know!

Still, Chase had to admit that going to that orphanage _had_ been a good business move, for not only did he have an heir-in-training, he had a star developer cranking out idea after idea and earning more money and fame for his company than all the others on the development staff combined! In fact, the only reason _they_ were still around was that Jack very much enjoyed being superior and in control, and amongst those underlings, he was both of those things.

Chase had kept a close eye on the youth even as he trained Omi for his eventually inheritance of Young Enterprises. The redhead had come to his home emaciated, filthy, pathetic, and meek, and there'd been much improvement since then.

The albino had gained weight, confidence, health, and overall cleaned himself up, something the trillionaire found a subtle delight in.

Spicer cleaned up _nicely,_ after all…

Chase had long held an appreciation for the unique, and Jack was the very _picture_ of it: scarlet hair, crimson eyes, _shockingly_ lily-white skin, a genius intellect, and an appreciation for all things pitch in color.

Had the man been possessed of a stricter code of morals, he wouldn't even allowed himself to acknowledge the fact that Spicer was sexually attractive to him. The boy was still seventeen; underage! Legally, he was the weapons mogul's son! Those were boundaries he should be taking seriously and dutifully staying behind.

They meant nothing. Jack was only seventeen, yes, but he had an intelligence higher than the average adult: were something to be initiated, he would be fully aware of what it was and wouldn't allow himself to be taken advantage of if he didn't want to be. Furthermore, it didn't matter _what_the law said, Spicer had _no_ biological relation to him whatsoever, and should they choose to do anything together, it wouldn't encroach upon their existing relationship, which as of now was simply a strange combination of employer/employee and housemates.

Chase did not and had _never_ seen Jack as a son and Jack likewise did not and had never seen Chase as a father.

All things considered, they were actually in quite a prime position to be together. The only thing stopping the elder man was the questionable degree of Jack's want of it.

Chase knew well enough that Spicer like him; liked working for him, liked spending time with him, liked _him,_ but what he didn't know was the most important thing, and that was whether or not Spicer liked him _that way._

The wealthy man was many things, several of them dark and horrifying, but none of those things were a rapist.

One of those dark things inside of him, however, was incredibly horny and tired of waiting, and so currently, Chase was doing something expressly forbidden by his own company policy: searching private premises on illegal grounds without a warrant.

The premises _were_ private, but they were also his own; Jack _did_ live in Chase's home, after all, and though the grounds for the search were illegal, the weapons mogul felt they were justified and that no warrant was _needed._

Chase grinned as his careful search (not a simple and careless ransacking of the teenager's room and more of a meticulous picking over of it) turned something up: Spicer's journal.

Immediately and with no compunctions about the invasion of privacy whatsoever, the man cracked open the book and flipped to one of the more recent entries from no more than a few days ago.

_Today was okay,_ Jack had written last Saturday. _I had this idea for a new weapon; a wrist-mounted laser kinda thing. It might be hard to explain the benefits of it to the army, but I guess I could make up some BS or other about it working well in both long and short range combat and being a good stealth weapon because of the noiselessness of it. I dunno, I'll figure something out, but either way, I've gotta make it: it'll be **really** cool, too cool to pass up building. I talked to Chase at dinner today,_ the man immediately perked at the sight of his name, _and I guess things still aren't going well on that front. I just…I don't know how the hell to talk to him, I guess. He's really hard to read and I'm horrible at reading people, anyways, which just makes it twenty times harder. Fuck, I don't know…I can't even tell if he **likes** me at all because of that perfect poker face he has. Maybe I should just give up on him. I mean, I'm sure as hell not sending out the right signals or dropping the right hints that I'm interested, but…well, fuck, can anyone blame me? I've never even **tried** to flirt with somebody before! It's all new and weird to me. Gah, fuck…I'm just gonna go scribble out some blueprints for the laser thing; that'll clear my head._

Without a word, Chase closed the book and laid it carefully back in the drawer where he'd found it; _just_ as he'd found it. Giving the bedroom a quick once-over to make sure everything was where it'd been when he first entered the room so as not to arouse the young genius' suspicion, the trillionaire casually left to resume his usual daily activities.

Of course, there _was_ a new addition to his daily activities, one clearly labeled in his mind as, 'Seduce Spicer Over Romantic Dinner; Proceed to Have Way with Him,' but dinner was hours from now, and there was really no need to rush things.

**_699. Notification-_**

The Xiaolin monks were very confused to receive a letter on the doorstep of their temple one warm, summer day.

Crowding around each other, the three young men tried their best to read over their female cohort's shoulder (or in Omi's case, _over_ her _hip_) as she read it aloud.

"Dear Xiaolin monks," Kimiko began, "I am sending you this letter in order to inform you of a few key pieces of information so as to keep you in the loop and give you all a fighting chance. In a matter of days, I will be turning 1,580. No, I am not holding a celebration, and even if I were, you would not be invited. Nonetheless, it is on the day of my birth that two very important things will be happening, one of which is that I am getting married."

Dojo, from beneath Clay's hat, piped, "He and the hag are finally tying the knot, eh?"

The Japanese girl looked ahead a bit and visually paled. "Erm…not exactly," she said before continuing to read, "You aren't invited to the wedding, either. Spicer has forbidden your presence if I want the honeymoon to happen, and I assure you I do."

Kimiko paused to allow her mind and those of her fellow monks to get past the visual that went with the sentence. Raimundo turned visibly green, Clay blushed furiously and looked away, and Omi's face expressed pure confusion, but despite it, he kept silent so that the rest of the letter could be read.

"I have recently come across a rather interesting spell," Kimiko dutifully continued, "one that will allow me to increase my power and strength tenfold simply by binding another inherently Evil lifeforce to mine on the day of my birth. For this, I have chosen Spicer who, despite his consistent failures and flubs, _is_ inherently Evil. On this day in the near future, I shall bind Jack Spicer's life to mine and wed us, multiplying my power to an extent you can't _possibly_ hope to match."

"So why's he telling us all this?"Rai wondered. It seemed kind of stupid to tell your enemies what your plans were before completing them…

"There's more," the female monk petulantly pointed out before finishing, "I am writing to inform you all of this because, like I stated earlier, I should like to give you something resembling a fighting chance by giving you a hint at when this will be taking place so that you can try to stop me. My wedding and the spell will be occurring on my 1,580th birthday. I am secure in the knowledge that you will be unable to stop Spicer and I from our plans, because there are only three people alive besides myself who could conceivably know the day I was born, and they are Spicer, Guan, and Dojo. Spicer would never tell you when it is, nor will I let you interrogate him so as to take the information by force. I have never once told Guan my birthday and am certain he does not know it. Finally, Dojo has been told the date of my birth, but all the luck in the world would not help you get it from him: I am sure he has long forgotten it. In any case, I hope you enjoy the next several days trying frantically to stop my plans from coming to fruition; I know I shall enjoy watching you all run around like headless chickens trying. Signed, Chase Young."

"That's so stupid!" Raimundo declared. "He just gave us all the information we need to stop him!"

"Yeah," Kimiko agreed. "Like Dojo would actually _forget_ Chase's birthday!"

Looking up to the brim of his hat, Clay entreated, "Well, c'mon, Dojo, tell us."

The dragon looked anxious and hesitantly inquired, "T-tell you what?"

"Chase Young's date of birth," Omi clarified. "Surely, you have not forgotten it as he claimed you have!"

Sheepishly, Dojo fidgeted beneath the cowboy-monk's hat. "Uh…sorry…?"

All four monks groaned in despair at the confirmation of Chase's suspicions being right.

"Well, that's it," Raimundo declared, "we're fucked."

His compatriots did no more than nod sadly, knowing it to be true.

Chase Young and his husband-to-be merely watched their plight through the Eye Spy Orb and laughed, ever excited for their wedding the following morning.

**_700. Faction-_**

Jack Spicer had always been desperate to belong, Chase mused to himself.

As a child, he knew he hadn't fit in and tried his very best to do so anyways by attending the classes his mother placed him in without complaint, trying to learn as much as he could about whatever was being taught as if in doing it, he would instantly belong to the group in which his peers resided.

Instead, it only exiled him further; made him 'that weird brainy kid' that no one wanted to talk to.

As he grew older, he'd finally realized that he would never belong amongst normal people: he was too smart, too quirky, too _different,_ both physically and mentally to ever _fit in._

That had upset him, made him angry, and in his anger, he had forsaken all the morals and ethics the society that'd outcast him had taught and turned to Evil.

Of course, he was not true Evil: he could never kill, struggled with cruelty, and could only barely come to terms with theft. It was because despite his declaration that he was Evil, he was nothing more than human: thought he was naturally inclined to do horrible things, he still had a conscience; still had a soul, and that made him a multidimensional creature who could not be summed up by one trait or one word.

In a world of Blacks and Whites, Jack Spicer was unapologetically Grey, and that made him stick out like a sore thumb.

When he'd first endeavored to join the Heylin faction, it was the White parts of him that caused him to be rejected, and in the singular instance he attempted to join the Xiaolin, it was the Black parts that inevitably damned him.

Now that he had finally been accepted into the Heylin ranks at least on _some_ level (having become Chase's apprentice), he pressured his master to help him; to rid him of the streaks of White still left within himself.

Chase refused.

Even when the youth stepped up his begging, using seduction and sex as temptations to make him truly Evil, the warlord denied the request.

He would not nor would he _ever_ aid Jack in becoming completely Evil and taking away the burden of conscience his soul had placed on him.

Chase had taken Jack as his own for a reason, and it wasn't because of his potential for Heylin or any such thing: it was because for the first time in a very long time, the man had found something truly and completely _human,_ and in his lifetime of seeing humans consistently trying to be _better_ than human, it was unendingly refreshing.

He _loved_ it that Spicer was human and (though he wished to) never tried to be anything more or less than that, for in such a thing, he saw a bit of what he had been before giving up his own humanity; before defining himself as strictly Evil.

The dragonlord refused to let Jack give that up. He would see to it personally that his lover and apprentice would remain Grey; remain _human_ for all eternity. If not to keep the genius from making the very same mistake he himself had made centuries ago, then Chase would do it to keep Jack multifaceted and flawed for his own benefit.

After all, Chase would be entirely lost without his human and his human's every imperfection to love.

--

**A/N: _Rabble-Rouser-_ No comment.**

**_Crooked-_ I certainly _do_ like to have Jack unconscious and dragged off by somewhat-primitive Chase, don't I? XD**

**_Captain-_ Continuation of _Recondite_ from Chapter 65.**

**_Public Relations-_ Loosely inspired by a favorite manga of mine, Backstage Prince. Most of my favorite mangas can somehow be interpreted as Chack, though. XD**

**_Terms-_ No comment.**

**_Conditions-_ Phooka belongs to RedLioness.**

**_ Private-_ Continuation of _Crooked_ from earlier in the chapter.**

**_Policy-_ Continuation of _Conditions_ from earlier in the chapter. Phooka still belongs to :redlioness:, and anyone who knows the character knows that what I wrote about him going home with a girly-looking boy on his arm is a very obvious set-up for Mooka (Phooka/Matty) should RedLioness ever choose to act on it. :)**

**_Notification-_ Could _not_ for the life of me think of what to do with this one until Silvarbelle gave me a nudge in the right direction; thanks, Silv!**

**_Faction-_ I was replying to the 135+ comments I had in my inbox (holy FUCK, I need to stop letting them back up so much, ;__; ) when o0calyx0o said something about Jack being the most interesting character in XS that just sparked a random bit of insight into his actual _character_ on my part. Having nothing else to write for this word, I adapted that insight into this. XD**

**There are two main reasons I decided to finish up this chapter when I did.**

**1) I go back to school tomorrow. *SIIIIIIIIIIIIGH* I don't know my classes inside and out just yet, so I don't know what classes will be and won't be okay to goof off a little and get some writing done in, so I likely won't be doing any writing/updating for awhile until I've got everything all figured out, and even then, I'll actually have homework to do, which'll probably interfere with the whole fanfiction thing. FEEL MY APATHY. Still, this was the closest thing to being done I had and figured I ought to post _something_ for you loyal fans to tide you over while I'm on a bit of a hiatus.**

**2) As Silvarbelle told me...my OCD is showing through a little bit. I don't feel right letting my summer end without getting the Anthology posts up to the round number of '70' as opposed to the odd but amusing (though juvenile) '69.'**

**In any case, though, that's Chapter 70, and I have no idea how long or to what extent I'll be occupied from this point on! Hope you liked the chapter! :D**


	71. Chapter 71

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--**

**_701. Scarf-Cactus-_**

Chase was horrified upon the discovery of his lover in the middle of the indoor garden doing something particularly strange.

The source of his horror was _not,_ oddly enough, the fact that the teen was tying a scarf around a cactus, but rather that the very first conclusion his mind came to was that the cactus, used to sweltering temperatures, would appreciate the warmth of the scarf and that Jack was merely trying to do the plant a kindness.

**_702. Fortune Cookie-_**

It was a dreadful experience to take Spicer out on what he deemed a 'casual date.'

Jack had insisted on dragging his overlord into a hellish mall and then forcing him to sit through a cheesy (not to mention _boring!_) chick-flick. As if that weren't enough, Chase had been made to dine at a highly-Americanized Chinese restaurant where the food was terrible, the atmosphere was fake, and the other patrons were borderline racist in their ignorance of _true_ Chinese culture.

Still... Chase had to admit that the smitten look Spicer gave him when slipped the premade fortune cookie with the message, 'YOUR LOVE WILL BE ETERNAL' inside made the whole dreadful affair worth it.

**_703. Holiday-_**

In an alternate universe caused by Omi's meddling in history, Jack Spicer had ruled the world: that much was common knowledge.

What was far _less_ common in terms of being known was that he had instated a universal holiday on the fourth of January, the day of his idol's birth.

It was on this day that the dictator was lenient in punishments, allowed prisoners an hour of sunlight, and even gave the Chase Young for whom the holiday was for a small measure of freedom.

On his birthday, Chase was granted the privilege of moving freely about the citadel (albeit in shackles), gifted with a luxurious spa treatment, and allowed to slake his lust upon Jack Spicer himself.

His fellow Heylin prisoners often teased him for it; for most largely accepting the imprisonment with little complaint and implying that he was Jack's loyal lapdog; content to be held captive in exchange for a single day a year of pampering and sex.

Chase refused to respond to the taunts. He had come to terms with the captivity and in fact felt it at least a _bit_ deserved: over 1,000 years of bad karma and several years of treating Jack like dirt were _bound_ to catch up to him eventually.

Besides that, Spicer was quite the animal in bed and knew _very_ well how to provide a dragonlord with a wonderful birthday. In light of that, the mildly humiliating imprisonment could be just a bit overlooked.

_**704. Atrabilious-**_

All was not well in the kingdom, nor had it been well for a very long time. In fact, all was much closer to outright _terrible._

An unavoidable war had decimated the population and ruined the economy, for one. Then, things were only made worse when the queen and the unborn heir to the throne had both died in childbirth, putting the king in an understandably atrabilious mood.

Of course, the whole _kingdom_ was aware that Lord Young had had no care for Lady Wuya, his wife, but it was nonetheless unfortunate to find himself without a wife _or_ a son to succeed him.

The people were not as accepting of the loss as he, not as unfortunate as they and their lives were. Their king could not live forever! Who would rule them in his stead? Who would save them? Who would _fix all of their problems?_

In their fear of the nonexistent answers to these questions, the people panicked. They rioted, looted, killed, and much, much worse, and for their own idiocy, they blamed the nearest authority figure around: Chase, their king.

There was an attempt to storm his castle, but unfortunately for them, it'd been built to withstand such a thing: the citadel was sealed tight against intruders, with only the king and a good deal of his servants inside.

The peasants had made the decision to wait the lot of them out. There was only so much food in the castle, after all, and to avoid starving to death, they would _have_ to come out sometime.

What they didn't know was that Lord Young had already resigned himself to just such a fate, preferring to die of starvation than to surrender himself to murderous and senseless fools.

For quite awhile, the food held out, sustaining all inside, but inevitably, it ran out. Cannibalism became necessary, and one by one, the servants were killed and eaten by those left. Some fought back or tried to leave the sealed castle entirely, but their king was much too strong to overpower and too clever to outwit.

The handful of servants that remained were forced to stay and wait for their turn to be executed; wondering all the while why their suggestions to next be rid of the oddly-colored musician (who provided no survival skills to the situation whatsoever) were so consistently ignored.

None imagined for even a second that young Jack was Chase's lover for whom he cared deeply, or that the beautiful music the violinist had always played was an incredible comfort to the king as well as a welcome distraction from unpleasant thoughts.

When they were together, neither Chase nor Jack stopped to dwell on the fact that the servants were beginning to dwindle. Chase didn't care that he had now heard all of Jack's songs scores and scores of times over; Jack didn't care that his delicate albino body was suffering from the near-constant playing. The familiar music, the blistered and bruised fingers, the nasty case of fiddler's neck that was beginning to set in…none of it mattered.

All that mattered was that they were together for this. Wuya, the dead child, the revolting peasants, their impending fate…

Outside of one another, all else was secondary.

_**705. Polemic-**_

_"Why did you let him put that on you?"_

Jack glanced over from his work desk, seeing Diol's cool, questioning gaze upon him. He followed that gaze to his own bare arms, in particular, the one marked quite obviously with an array of black lines.

"I didn't have much of a choice, y'know," he murmured matter-of-factly.

Diol tilted his head, as if in question. _"And yet you've done nothing about it,"_ the cat pointed out.

"What can I do?" Jack demanded. "It's permanent. Even if I tore all the skin off my arm, it'd come back. I _told_ you what happened with the…naga." There was only a slight pause in his words before he said it, proving he was coming to terms well with what had happened. "There were cuts all over my arm except where the tattoo was: I'm pretty sure that if cutting the skin doesn't even faze it, it's _not_ coming off."

The jaguar prowled closer to the genius. _"You could've asked Master to remove it."_

Jack snorted openly. "And how well would _that_ have gone over?" he inquired. "My arm _still_ aches sometimes from the _last_ time I pissed him off bad enough. The Bitch-Lord of the Mountain is not to be trifled with."

Diol grinned at that. _"True,"_ he agreed easily, _"but Master is not one who enjoys forcing his will on others,"_ at the skeptical look red eyes shot him, he amended, _"most of the time. He would rid you of it if you truly wanted."_

Jack simply stared at the cat for a moment. "…No," he said eventually, turning back to the work on his desk. "That's stupid."

_"Is it?"_ Diol sharply challenged. _"Is it stupid, or are you simply too afraid of his wrath to assert your own rights; even a minion as you are?"_

Jack balked immediately. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

_"You, of course,"_ the jaguar sniffed. _"You are completely submissive to him; you forgo your own wants and needs to please him, and all because you fear what he'll do to you if you even **think** of defying him."_

Jack _scowled_ immediately, as if that one little comment had been a forty-page polemic against all he held dear; mercilessly attacking his every belief.

"Fuck you, Diol," he said firmly. "I'm his minion: I'm _supposed_ to submit to him, and yeah, I'm scared of him: anybody with an ounce of common sense _would_ be! That doesn't mean he's some abusive prick who beats the hell out of me every time I open my mouth or disagree with him. I happen to _like_ being his minion," Jack added. "I was next to _nothing_ before him; I'm a genius but I don't _work_ well without a shove in the right direction, and Chase is _good_ at that! It's a mutually-beneficial thing: he gets a loyal minion and I get the chance to learn how to suck less. I'm _not_ being kept against my will anymore and I'm _sure_ as hell not some beaten lapdog. Yeah, I'm Chase's minion and yeah, he has me marked, but so the fuck what? I _like_ being marked; I _like_ being owned if Chase is the one doing both."

Jack took a deep, calming breath and deftly turned away from the feline and back to his work. "Diol…kindly get the hell out before I do something I'll get a _real_ stern talking-to for. I have to get this stuff done."

Without complaint, the warrior-cat turned and prowled from the room, stopping only briefly outside the door so as to receive a grateful scritch behind the ears and the silent promise of live prey for dinner in exchange for obtaining the precise information his Master had wanted to hear to put his uncertainties to rest.

_**706. Vulcan-**_

Jack loved space.

Though he was human and raised on Earth in a conservative environment, he had always dreamed of more. Sometimes, as a child, Jack would look out of his bedroom window at the stars, fantasizing that perhaps _that_ was where he had truly come from.

This thought, of course, made perfect sense to a child such as he: given his strange coloring, certainly not standard for a human, and the fact that his parents seemed so disinterested in him, it was entirely plausible that he was some species of alien that no one had discovered yet, somehow lost on Earth by his _true_ parents.

Back then, he liked to play-pretend that he was an alien prince, sent away from his real home for his own safety but unfortunately abducted by the negligent couple that had given him the surname of 'Spicer.'

In that fantasy, he had been betrothed to another alien of a different species (at the time, he'd rationalized it as a peacemaking act between planets). The other alien had no visual appearance in Jack's mind, or if he had, Jack could not remember it, now. The voice that often called him the incomprehensible phrase, _'pi'sa-te'kru'_, on the other hand, stood out clearly: lovely and soothing, but at the same time, masculine and powerful.

The fact that his imaginary suitor had been a man made things a lot less jarring and out of the blue when Jack came out of the closet several years later.

Still, it was the youth's idealistic fantasy that drove him through his lonely, empty childhood: one day, he promised himself, he would go into space and find his true home. With that home would surely come his husband-to-be, and he could leave this life of stupid humans behind him once and for all!

This in mind, Jack had thrown himself into study, excelling in robotic engineering with an innate and almost supernatural talent that had all who knew or heard of him gawking.

By twelve, he was formally declared a genius, by fifteen, a _super_-genius, and now, at seventeen, with several years of complete domination and utter superiority in the mechanical field under his belt, he was chosen for an interstellar expedition.

At such an age and intelligence, Jack knew enough to distinguish reality from childhood fancy and was no longer under any delusions of finding some mysterious alien paramour somewhere out in space. However, as his love of the _stars_ had never stopped, the idea of journeying far from his home-planet thrilled him beyond measure.

Of course, despite his talent in robotics and necessity to the mission, Jack _was_ underage and so required parental permission in order to go. Thankfully, the Spicers cared little for their son and saw the expedition as an excuse to be rid of him for several years: they consented immediately.

Jack was exuberant, overjoyed, ecstatic, manic, deliriously happy, and nearly _insane_ in his giddiness. _Space_ travel, he was going into _space!_

Or at least, he _had_ been.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Spicer," the official insisted to him again, "but you didn't pass the physical endurance test. We _cannot_ allow you to go on this mission."

Jack's face was blank, a strange measure of crushed hope and furious indignation in his eyes. "So, what?" he demanded. "You're just dropping me?"

"I'm afraid so: not having passed the physical endurance, you're a health risk that we can't be held responsible for."

"_I'll_ take responsibility!" Jack barked, agitated. "It's my health, my problem, and I don't care. I'll sign whatever you want me to so you can cover your asses if that's the issue!"

"Mr. Spicer," the man began apologetically, "you're too young to give your own consent. You can't sign your rights away, your parents-"

"_They'll_ sign whatever you want!" Jack exclaimed. "They won't give a fuck, I _promise!_"

"Nevertheless…we simply…can't-"

"Of course we can."

The two men paused, Jack's body stilling almost completely at the eerily familiar sound of the one who'd spoken.

_That voice!_ his mind screamed at him. There was no mistaking the powerful beauty in that voice that Jack was _certain_ he knew.

Looking over, he saw a tall, lean man aesthetically pleasing in body. His hair was thick and dark, held out of a stunningly handsome face by a long braid over the shoulder and Jack was startled at how close he felt to swooning at the teasing glimmer of golden eyes and the utterly charming smirk sent his way. Pointed ears easily caught the youth's attention, identifying the newcomer as a nonhuman and his largely humanoid form and physical attributes further specifying his race: undoubtedly Vulcan.

"Richards," the man addressed the official sternly, "what is this nonsense I hear of you attempting to bar our technical officer from journeying with us?"

"I must, captain," apparently-Richards protested. "He failed the physical-"

"I _saw_ his test results, myself," the handsome Vulcan asserted. "He failed by an exceedingly slim margin. The greatest health risk Spicer will pose is a nosebleed or brief loss of consciousness upon acclimation. Surely, that much can be overlooked."

"Captain," Richards said, "regulations _explicitly_ state-"

"Richards," the official's superior interrupted once more, "I shall be perfectly frank with you: my crew _requires_ a technical officer and we shall all die quickly without one. Spicer here is a technical officer of technical officers, a super-genius among geniuses. It is much too late to replace him with the expedition beginning tomorrow and even if it weren't, I would not condone the action. It is _impossible_ to replace a mind of his caliber."

Jack's hope and excitement were soundly renewed as the other human in the room began sputtering incoherently, _helplessly._

With a cool, emotionless expression, the Vulcan put a stop to the stammering with the assertion, "Should you wish to keep your job, Richards, you will keep your mouth shut and allow this to slide by unnoticed." With that, his golden eyes met Jack's and he gave a curt nod of his head to indicate that Jack should follow as he turned and left the room.

Jack did so eagerly.

"Thanks," he said the moment the door closed behind the two of them, "that guy was a real jerk."

"It is as much in my interests as yours that you come along for this," the other said. "Think nothing of it, Spicer."

"Sure," Jack allowed. "So, um…I guess you know my name, already, but you are…?"

"Chase Young," the man provided. "Feel free to call me Chase."

Red eyes blinked for a moment, obviously confused. "Chase?" Jack echoed. "That doesn't sound very…"

"Vulcan?" Chase finished, grinning as a pink, shamed blush burned across the human's cheeks. "That's because it isn't," he explained. "I have more or less cut ties with my people and have adopted more Terran cultures, hence the reason why I no longer answer to my original name and have taken one more typical of your planet."

"Oh…that makes sense, I guess." Having never met a nonhuman before, Jack's mind was _brimming_ with questions, but he dutifully kept his mouth shut. After all, it really wouldn't do to offend his commanding officer a mere twenty-four hours before the mission with him that could end up lasting as long as _six years._

However, he was not very good at concealing his emotions, for Chase soon spoke, "You may ask me anything you like, Spicer. I am not easily offended and certainly _never_ by honest curiosity."

Jack swallowed hard, thinking on the thing he most wished to know. "It might be best that I not ask," he delegated. "I mean, if a Vulcan asked me something like what I'm thinking, I'd probably be offended."

"By all means, ask," Chase insisted. "I would rather you ask it now and get it over with than wait until later on."

Biting his lip, Jack eventually spoke up, "Um…you said you cut ties with your planet. Is…that why you actually have emotions and facial expressions…?"

The Vulcan's step faltered and he stopped in the hallway.

Jack winced, excusing, "Right, that's too far. I got it. Sorry, I just-"

He cut himself off as Chase, much to his surprise, began _laughing._

"You assumed such a little question would upset me?" he chuckled, his grin only broadening as he caught sight of Jack's utterly flabbergasted expression. "You are partially correct, nevertheless. Contrary to popular belief, however, we Vulcans are _very_ emotional beings: we _feel_ everything very strongly. We simply learn to control those feelings with meditation to the point that it may occasionally seem as if our emotions don't exist. As I have chosen to most largely abandon my peoples' ways, I see no reason to constantly restrain myself."

"Then, would you consider yourself more Romulan than Vulcan?" Jack wondered, thinking of the closely related alien species that were a near-perfect foil to the calm and logical Vulcans; a very much passionate and cunning race.

"Mmm, I prefer to think of myself as somewhere in the middle." Chase said. "I am not constantly cautious of my emotions nor am I completely free with them: I feel what I feel and express it in appropriate moderation." With a warm smile that sent a shiver up and down Jack's spine, Chase inquired, "Does that answer your question, Spicer?"

Jack smiled back instinctively. "Yeah, it does. Thanks for humoring me, I'm sure that didn't sound like the _most_ intelligent question in the world…"

"Neither is it the least," the Vulcan promised. "I have heard worse by _far._"

Abruptly enough that his human companion nearly walked into him, Chase stopped in the middle of the hallway, gesturing to a door. "This is where the technical equipment for our voyage is being kept," he said coolly, a stern, blank tone in his voice that Jack was _sure_ was a throwback to his heritage. "It has all been thoroughly inspected by our former technical officer, but as we've had some problems with her odd tribble fetish, she is very much on the way out. I fear she may hold bitterness over her firing, so I should like you to look everything over briefly to be safe."

"No problem," Jack nodded. "Anything else you need?"

Chase shook his head in the negative. "Only inspect our equipment and return her tomorrow so that the expedition can begin as planned." He turned as if to leave only to pause, facing Jack with a teasing and good-natured grin. "Oh, and should anyone such as Richards attempt to give you any more trouble, feel free to come running back to me, _pi'sa-te'kru._"

And with that, Chase turned on his heel and left, leaving Jack absolutely _stunned_ behind him.

First, the voice and now that phrase?! It was _way_ too weird to be mere coincidence!

Perhaps he'd taken this job for a reason more than his love of space. Perhaps his dreams truly _had_ been something more than dreams. Perhaps…perhaps Chase was the alien prince he had always hoped was real…?

Jack shook his head, dispelling such thoughts. It was no time to chase old daydreams: he had a job to do.

The astrophilic human entered the technical storage room to complete his given duty, doing his very best not to let his fantasies run away with him.

_**707. Wild-**_

Chase Young had nearly been overthrown.

His palace was in ruins, several of his warriors were severely injured, and even _he_ bore a wound: a shallow, mildly painful cut upon his throat.

In a shocking divergence from the expected, the perpetrator of such anarchy was not, in fact, dead.

Chase would not have expected Spicer to storm his home with the intent to thoroughly end his once idol, not in a million years. He had not realized how strongly Jack had been affected by his constant refusals nor how hurt he'd been by the callous insults. It had not even occurred to him that Spicer had been so upset with rejection that he would attempt to destroy the man he idolized.

It was only when his home was being torn down to shambles all around him and a blade biting into his neck, eyes full of pain and neglect glaring into his own with a wildly desperate desire to be something _more_ that Chase realized these things.

In the end, Jack hadn't been able to go through with it.

At the last moment, he shut his eyes and pulled away, a dry sob wracking his body as his knife clattered to the floor, forgotten. Chase had knocked him unconscious, then, rendering the youth harmless and locking him away within the palace.

Chase had decided the youth's fate the moment he had seen the look of hatred and pain and madness and adoration in his red eyes: Spicer would be his, now, his to keep and to train into a perfect Heylin apprentice as he ought to have done years ago.

After all, it was a gross shame to waste such a beautiful devotion.

_**708. Pon Farr-**_

It had been many weeks since the interplanetary voyage had begun and technical officer Jack Spicer found himself in quite the strange predicament.

"Come here, Spicer," his commanding officer demanded, and Jack turned to face the older male.

Chase Young reclined leisurely in his bed, entirely nude and hidden from Jack's eyes only by a silken sheet draped over him. A pale green flush burned his cheeks and a greedy lust burned inside his eyes.

Chase, of course, was deep within the grip of pon farr and he had chosen Jack as his mate to couple with.

It'd been a shock to be sure, selected by the beautiful Vulcan out of the many available crew members and to be told that he was the only one Chase would accept to satisfy his lust. Wary but assured by his superior's promises to be gentle and make sure he enjoyed it, Jack accepted the request.

True to Chase's word, he was not regretting it.

Jack wandered back to the bed, back to Chase and slid beneath the sheets. Chase latched onto him immediately, rubbing and nuzzling and skating light, fingertip touches over prickling white skin out of a base desire to touch and possess. Jack could feel the Vulcan's male anatomy pressed against his thigh in a state of arousal and he nuzzled Chase back, thoroughly pleased with the physical attention he was receiving.

"Do you need me again?" he asked.

Chase hummed softly, mouthing idly at the rounded tip of his lover's ear. "Can you accommodate me again so soon?"

Jack shifted slightly only to wince just a bit at the soreness he still felt from their first sexual joining. "Uh…maybe not just yet," he admitted.

"Then, I can wait a bit for you, my _pi'sa-te'kru,_" Chase assured.

The return of the nickname made Jack pause, his thoughts beginning to spiral off on a tangent as they always did when that little phrase popped up.

"You keep calling me that," Jack murmured. "What does it mean?"

"_Pi'sa-te'kru_ means 'little king,'" Chase told him immediately. "Something about you warrants it. You carry yourself as nobility and demand respect and obedience from those that could easily hurt you. I felt the pet-name appropriate," he purred. "Why do you ask?"

Jack said nothing for a long time. _Pi'sa-te'kru_…meant king…? The fantasies of old were back again, the very ones the youth had deemed a silly, not to mention _impossible_ childhood fancy.

They couldn't be true. They _couldn't._

The genius' mind, on the other hand, told him different; said there _had_ to be some connection and that it was only a matter of _finding_ it.

Hesitantly, Jack obeyed his mind's insistences. "…Chase?" he began. "Vulcans do the whole…arranged marriage thing. Were you…supposed to get married to someone?"

"Yes," Chase confirmed, causing Jack's heart to stop for _just_ a second. "However," he continued, "we were uninterested in each other. We were married and I promptly released her from our bonding, similarly to your Terran divorces. I actually received word of her death in some accident or another a few years ago."

Jack sighed inaudibly, almost relieved that here was another part of his youthful dreaming that differed with reality. It would certainly be easier if there were less and less similarities between the two.

"I'm sorry," he halfheartedly offered in regards to the not-to-be bride's death.

"Don't be," Chase said, nuzzling at his lover again due to his libido's insistence that he at least keep _touching_ Jack if not fucking him. "We hardly knew each other: if _I_ am not sorry, _you_ need not be."

Jack offered a tight grin in response. "It's good you're not broken up about her, then," he offered, even as he mentally added that the potential link to the confusing fantasy was now gone.

Chase, of course, noticed the forced look. "What's wrong?" he demanded. "You seem troubled."

"It's nothing," Jack promised, perhaps a little too quickly, for Chase raised a dubious brow at him and gave the hard, no-nonsense stare that his people were truly _excellent_ at.

Jack simply could not fight the infamous Vulcan 'tell me' glare.

Instead of trying, he sighed and told his lover everything: the dreams he used to have as a child, his smooth-voiced suitor, and that same nickname spoken in that same voice that made him irrationally suspicious of Chase.

Surprisingly enough, he was not openly laughed at.

Mind taken from lust for a few moments, Chase frowned thoughtfully. "How odd," he mused. "And you're certain it was my voice you were spoken to with? That you were called _pi'sa-te'kru_ in my tongue?"

"Positive," Jack promised. "But…that's impossible. The facts don't add up; it doesn't make sense. They were just dreams, not…not _real._"

Chase was briefly silent. "Perhaps not entirely, anyways…"

"…what do you mean?"

"You are a _genius,_ Spicer," the Vulcan said. "Your intellect is higher than any other Terran being's that is, was, and ever will be. There is a strong history of those with _half_ your IQ having the ability to read minds and levitate objects. Is it not conceivable that your intelligence afforded you the ability to foresee bits and pieces of the future; _your_ future?"

Jack obediently mulled it over. "Well…maybe," he conceded, "but what about the whole back-story? The…princes and marriage thing?"

"You were a child," Chase handily reminded. "Your imagination was vivid and there were holes in your picture of the future. You likely just filled in the gaps with whatever fantasy came to mind."

As always, Chase's logic was infallible and Jack hummed in reluctant agreement. "I guess that makes sense…" He carefully failed to add that the death of the more fantastical elements of his dreams was startlingly disappointing; that the two of them no longer had to marry for the greater good of two planets.

Jack realized that he wouldn't at all mind being wed to his handsome and spectacular commanding officer.

With little warning, said handsome and spectacular man straddled Jack's hips and kissed him forcefully. "I am sorry, Jack," Chase breathed upon pulling away, his cheeks and eyes darkened again with lust. "I cannot hold myself back any longer: my body needs you."

It certainly did if the painfully hard cock rubbing up against his thigh again was any indication. Jack willingly submit to the Vulcan's need and rubbed back, kissing at the strong collarbone beneath soft and warm flesh.

"I will make this haste up to you, _ashayam,_" Chase promised with a warm affection that gave Jack pause. "I promise to take my time with you when things are not so urgent; once my pon farr has ended…"

_Once his pon farr has…?_

Jack's mental inquiry as to why Chase would want anything to do with him once the Vulcan version of heat was over was cut off as Chase kissed him again hard. Forceful in his desire, Chase began moving his lover into a more comfortable position for copulation, fondly muttering, _"Taluhk nash-veh k'dular…"_

Jack ceased to think for awhile, content to drown in a beautiful alien's attentions.

_**709. Lupercalia-**_

Jack gave a distinctly wolfish grin as a bloody, borderline raw steak was placed on the table before him. Saliva welled up in his mouth and an appreciative growl rumbled from somewhere in his abdomen, though whether it was from his chest or his stomach was debatable.

"Alright," he said to his alpha and sire, "what terrible thing do you want me to do that I get this?"

"Terrible thing?" Chase echoed with a grin. "Why do you assume I want you to do something? Can I not pamper my lover for no reason?"

"No," Jack said immediately. "You're not nearly that altruistic."

The vampire chuckled and moved to sit with his love at the table. "Admittedly, you are correct, Spicer," he confessed. "I am not pampering you for nothing, but neither am I trying to coax you into something unpleasant."

"Then, what gives?" Jack wondered, only _just_ resisting the temptation to sink his teeth into the warm, wet, bloody meat before his alpha had given him permission to eat.

"Today is a special occasion," Chase informed him. "It is a holiday once celebrated by the Romans in honor of a Lycan god. I've not paid any mind to it in the past, but…" he reached out and lay a hand upon a slim, white wrist. "Now that I've found a Lycan who is quite important to me, I feel that I am almost _obligated_ to celebrate it."

"Even though I'm not totally Lycan anymore?" Jack's bloodsucking smile was a testament to this, his long, sharpened canines showing even without the presence of an approaching full moon.

"Even so," Chase smiled back. "A half-Lycan is still a Lycan and should be acknowledged on such a day."

"And the other half of me?" Jack wondered.

"The other half of you only reminds me that you're _mine._" Chase reached for his own meal, a full golden goblet of blood. "Now, come, my fledgling," he invited, "let us toast your existence."

Happily, Jack caught hold of his steak and announced, "To the Romans, whose various debauchery paved the way for werewolves and fags!"

To his love, who was both of these things, Chase happily drank.

_**710. Velassi-**_

"Chase, Chase, Chase!"

The warlord looked up as his excited mate ran in, eager for his attention. "Yes, Jack?" he inquired patiently.

"I just thought of something awesome," the genius exclaimed, "something that'll change the _world_!"

"For better or worse?"

"Better, _but,_" Jack added at his lover's disappointed frown, "it's good for us, too, so it's okay."

"Alright," Chase began, "and what is this world-bettering idea of yours?"

"You know Twilight, right?"

Chase scowled immediately; yes, he did know the horrid, abuse-advocating, woman-demeaning vampire novel series that the world was inexplicably enthralled by.

He nodded his assent to Jack, who immediately blurted, "Imagine if Edward was a velassi!" This suggestion was met with a blank golden stare and the young Heylin apprentice belatedly realized the need to clarify. "It's a type of vampire," he said. "They can do a bunch of stuff, but what they're most known for is male pregnancies."

Chase was afflicted with the mental image of the divine and sparkly bloodsucker, Edward Cullen, looking like he'd swallowed a basketball and yowling about swollen ankles while his fluff-brained twit of a woman whined about how her statuesque love was pregnant instead of her.

The wicked, centuries-old dragonbeast shuddered in dread.

"How on Earth would male pregnancy make that tripe _better_?" he demanded of his mate.

"Come on, isn't it obvious?" Jack inquired, not waiting for a reply before he explained, "You just _know_ Edward's been sleeping around on Bella, but if he could get _pregnant…_"

He did not have to finish his sentence, for Chase was suddenly afflicted with a new mental image, one of a heavily-pregnant Edward on television as Bella and the werewolf, Jacob tousled violently over custody of the children (or cubs, as it were), a white trash audience chanting, "Jerry, Jerry!" in the background.

The warlord burst out into laughter at the thought, his mate laughing with him and clearly thinking the same thing.

When the chuckles died down, Chase proudly clapped a hand upon Jack's shoulder. "Spicer, you are truly a genius," he declared. "Only _you_ could make Twilight worth so much as a few cheap laughs."

******--**

******A/N: **_Scarf-Cactus-_ Yeah...don't ask about this one. XD

_Fortune Cookie-_ Daily dose o' fluff. :D

_Holiday-_ No comment.

_Atrabilious-_ Daily dose o' emo.

_Polemic-_ This one takes place in the Crossroads sandbox, started by EventfulEvent and later taken up by the lovely Silvarbelle. For those who are completely confused, the series can be found here: http : // www . livejournal . com / tools / memories . bml? user = silvarbelle & keyword = CROSSROADS & filter = all (without spaces). If you can't get to it, you probably need to friend Silv's LiveJournal (http : // silvarbelle . livejournal . com /) and wait to be friended back.

_Vulcan-_ Alright, now, let it be said that I'm not that much of a Trekkie, though I hold no ill will towards those who are (I may be a Star Wars lover, but that doesn't mean I'm not accepting of other sci-fi geeks! XD). In any case, I'm not all-knowing about the Star Trek universe and did the best I could with what I know. If something is _way_ off, by all means, let me know (politely, please!) so I can fix it. :)

_Wild-_ No comment.

_Pon Farr-_ A continuation of the earlier-in-this-chapter _Vulcan._ Again, not a Trekkie, not one-hundred percent sure everything makes sense, let me know if there are any glaring mistakes. As for the phrases used from the Vulcan language:

- Pi'sa-te'kru - little king  
- Ashayam- beloved  
- Taluhk nash-veh k'dular- I cherish thee

I purposefully left out the more well-known phrase, "t'hy'la" because A) it has the potential to imply a platonic relationship (meaning friend, brother, OR lover) and platonic is the last thing I'm trying to imply about these two and B) I didn't want to be too cliché. XD

For a third time, I am not a Trekkie nor am I a hardcore one that actually speaks Vulcan and knows all the nuances of the language; did the best I could with what I could find, tell me if I messed something up, etc. :D

_Lupercalia-_ This could be seen as a continuation to _Hybrid_ in Chapter 12 or even to my oneshot, _Hybrid_: whichever of the two floats your boat. ;P

_Velassi-_ For more information on velassi, which are a type of vampire fan-created because of the awesome anime, Nightwalker, look here: http : // www . velassi . com / about _ velassi . html :D  


****

Aside from that, _damn_ has it been awhile since I posted a chapter of Anthology! Sorry to keep you all waiting so long, but writer's block, other story ideas, real world obligations, other assorted excuses so I can cover my ass for this... XD

Anyways, it's here now, so thanks for reading and I hope you liked the fic! :D**  
**


	72. Chapter 72

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**--**

**_711. Unrelenting- _**

Jargoth had been entirely devastated.

Of course, he had known from the beginning that he could not win this war against these dark-haired men from the Orient with their superior weapons and tactics, but he had certainly not expected the end to come so _quick._

His army had been depleted horrifyingly early, his men tricked by genius strategies and overcome by sheer firepower. The timing of the sudden power-shift had not occurred to the barbarian warrior before and it wasn't until this very moment, on his knees before an enemy lord with a sharp sword poking at his windpipe that he realized; that the current vision of his captured son standing beside the foreigner and grinning wickedly at him registered in his mind.

_"Jakathrar,"_ he snarled at his wayward offspring, _"**you** are behind this!"_

"That's right," Jakathrar blatantly admitted, even using the jumbled mess of strange sounds the enemy called a language, "but I prefer to be called Jack, these days."

_"You snake!"_ Jargoth roared. _"You traitor! You have doomed your own father **and** your own people!"_

"No, I haven't," Jack said confidently. "All I've done is get revenge on the people I hate most in this world."

_"Revenge?! What foolish thing-"_

_"Shut up!"_ Jack barked harshly at his father. He made to step forward, as if to injure the man from whom he'd come, but the foreign lord held him back. A light touch of fingers to the pale youth's chest was all it took to stop him in his tracks and force him to calm down.

Jargoth was more than a little disgusted to note the look of affection his son gave the pretty lord that had captured him. It was not because the foreigner was a man, but because he was an enemy and because affection was _weak._

_"You side with this man, now?"_ he demanded. _"The one who has helped to slaughter **thousands** of your kin?"_

_"They were never my kin,"_ Jack said. _"In name and in blood, perhaps, but nothing more than that. **Your** people have never cared for me; only used me when I was useful and ignored or scorned me when I wasn't. Is **that** the sort of loyalty and selflessness you preach? The kind that applies to some and not all?"_

_"That is a **lie,** Jakathrar-!"_

"Is it really?" the young man wondered, switching back to the beautiful and complicated language of his master. "Is that why, instead of living the life of a prince in a palace, I was booted into the armed forces the moment I was old enough? Is that why I was trained to be little more than a thoughtless killing machine when I had _so many ideas_ with which to lead us to victory? Is that why I was _abandoned_ once caught despite how well I'd served your country without even a cursory attempt at rescuing me?"

Jargoth had nothing to say to that and only glared.

"Well, it's too late for that, now," Jack said unnecessarily. "Lord Young…Chase has taken me as his own and since you never tried to take me back, I will _remain_ his."

The lord, this Chase Young curled a gloved hand around Jack's arm in an instinctive show of possession, sure to keep his sword's point at Jargoth's Adam's apple throughout.

Jack smiled at the gesture and in fact, leaned into his captor's touch. "I am happy as his," he informed his father. "He cares for me more than what I provide him with. He has let me use my mind and my ideas for him. No, I was _not_ bribed or threatened: I willingly used my knowledge of your army against them and I'd gladly do it again! _Chase_ does not use me," he asserted. "He does not take me for granted when I help him and wish I'd never existed when I can't. He is _interested_ in me because I exist and nothing more."

"I don't believe the same could be said for you, Jargoth," Chase concluded. "It is quite a difficult thing to make a son _hate_ his father, but you've done that admirably if my Jack's utter willingness to obliterate you is any indication."

_"Impudent wretch,"_ Jargoth snarled, knowing there was no need for translation amongst the three of them. _"How dare you presume to tell me how I ought to treat my son?!"_

Chase only sneered in response. "You clearly weren't treating him _correctly._ If you had been, you'd still have his loyalty. Now, your chatter bores me. You have been defeated and all that awaits the defeated are death and capture. I have already captured all I need from your bloodline," he pointed out, eyes falling on Jack. "I'm going to kill him, now, Jack. You may leave if you wish."

"No," the youth asserted. "I've seen people killed before and even done so myself. I can handle the bloodshed, but if you mean to spare me my _father's_ death…" Jack chuckled mirthlessly. "There's no need for that: that man is no father of mine."

Chase nodded in understanding and raised his sword. "Farewell, Jargoth," he said.

As his head was deftly lopped off in one stroke, the last sight of Jargoth's compulsively blinking eyes was that of his son cozying up to his killer and smiling.

**_712. Collar- _**

Jack grinned at the dumbfounded expressions upon the monks' faces. "What's wrong, Xiaolin losers?" he taunted. "Didn't expect me to win?"

The four teenagers blankly shook their heads. No, they certainly _hadn't_ expected Jack to win the newest Shen Gong Wu. They hadn't even been able to declare a Showdown, his appearance had surprised them so!

The young Heylin genius laughed at their poleaxed expressions. "Well, in any case, I've got some urgent business to attend to," he smugly declared. "That said, better luck next time, dorkwads!"

And with that, Jack activated his helipack and flew off into the sky.

The monks continued to gape after him.

"…he was _naked,_" Omi stated after a moment.

"He was _hard,_" Raimundo added.

"He was wearing a _collar,_" Clay blushed furiously, trying to hide his face with the brim of his hat.

"God, d'you think he even _noticed?_" Kimiko wondered.

Dojo, perched atop Omi's round head, recalled the way Jack's body language had showed off the hickeys littering white-skinned shoulders and the hand-shaped bruises on slender hips. Too, there was the self-importance with which the very obvious and good-sized erection had been held, and who could forget the matter of the large, golden plaque on the collar Jack had been wearing: bold, proud, and _obviously_ meant to be seen in declaring, 'Property of Chase Young.'

"Y'know," Dojo eventually hazarded a guess, "I'm…pretty sure it wasn't an accident."

**_713. Dew- _**

Chase remained well-hidden within the brush and the forest as he eyed his game.

A youth dwelled in the meadow he observed, motionless upon the grass. His body lay long and lean amongst the flowers, his skin white as a lily's petals and certainly just as soft. His hair, a fiery red that could put the average Irishman to shame shone with the dim light of the coming sun. Daylight glinted off the small dew droplets that'd formed on long eyelashes, fluttering whimsically with whatever dream occupied the lovely boy's head.

The sleeping young man, Chase knew without question, was a nymph; a friend of the flowers by the slender and pretty build of him.

Of course, Chase had seen such creatures before: they were not new to him by any means. _This_ one, however…Chase was honestly startled by the burning need to own and possess that _this_ nymph in particular had inspired within him, by the consuming hunger he felt to make the youth with unique coloring and a beautiful body his and his alone.

He did not question it now, nor would he.

Instead, he carefully crept from the cover of the forest, his movements slow and cautious to avoid waking his prey. Soon, Chase was just beside the boy and he spared a brief-brief moment to marvel at his loveliness up close.

There was no time to be wasted for any more than that, however, and he set about his task, carefully rolling the sleeping youth onto his back and taking hold of his arms. Rope was wound about the nymph's slender wrists, knotted gently to avoid pain, but still tight enough to restrict motion. Chase repeated the binding for the youth's ankles and scooped the pretty sprite up and over his shoulder.

Confident that his captive could not escape him tied and off of the earth (where he could call upon his kin and transform himself into a flower to escape capture like many nymphs did), Chase headed for home, eager to begin courting his prize.

The nymph slumbered on peacefully, utterly oblivious to the fact that he'd been taken.

**_714. Gate- _**

Chase observed his nymph at the window, unmoving and staring wistfully outside past the gate of his keep.

Upon the young creature's awakening, he had been frightened and upset. Of _course_ he had, in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and a man claiming him unpermitted to leave!

However, the hysterics and fear did not; _could_ not last forever, and when the nymph had finally calmed a bit, Chase had explained his more than honorable intentions. He told the pretty creature that he would do him no harm, only that he was struck by his beauty and would court him if given the chance.

The nymph, who from that point wished to be called Jack, calmed a bit with that knowledge: one such as he, a cavorter and a tempter of mortal men, was well-versed in such terms and courtship was much less terrifying than the imagined unknown.

Of course, Jack had still been duly annoyed at his kidnapping and wondered why his would-be suitor hadn't spared him the courtesy of simply _asking_ to vie for his hand. Chase had answered the question by wondering just what the nymph might've done if approached by a strange man in fine clothing asking him to come to his home, and Jack sheepishly confirmed that he probably would've changed shape in order to remain in his field.

The issue settled, it came to be that Chase began to court the young Jack in a gentlemanly fashion.

Things had been going swimmingly for a few days, and Jack seemed to quite enjoy himself within the lord's keep. He took to luxury like a fish to water and adored the lavish quarters he'd been provided to sleep in as well as the extravagant dinner parties during which he enjoyed the company of lively people to the accompaniment of beautiful music. Too, it seemed he responded quite well to Chase himself, and eagerly flirted and teased and acted coy around him, as would be expected of a young beauty being courted.

And then, all of that had stopped and Jack had locked himself away in his room without a word.

Chase had come to investigate and found the nymph seated beside the window, looking blankly out past the keep's gate. At first, the lord had left the young man alone; allowing him time to mourn the life he'd left behind, but three days later, enough was enough.

Jack had eaten nothing in as long as he'd been secluded, and seeing him now, Chase was yet more concerned for his nymph, for he and his beauty were beginning to fade.

Jack seemed much thinner than he ought to be and his once smooth, white skin appeared grey and rough. Even his lovely flame-colored hair was duller and bore notably split ends.

"Jack," Chase spoke gently, "what are you doing to yourself?"

The youth shrugged and said nothing.

"This isn't healthy," he insisted. "I know you miss your home, but wasting away in want of it-"

"No," Jack said quietly, his voice coming out hoarse. "That's not it. I'm…hungry."

"Of course you are," Chase scoffed, "you've turned away all your meals."

"The bread and wine you bring me are delicious, but I can't live on it," Jack informed. Seeing the confusion on Chase's face, he nodded to the window, indicating that his lord should look.

Chase came up right beside the nymph and followed his gaze. Surprisingly, Jack's eyes were not focused _outside_ the gate, as he'd previously thought, but rather _within_ it: Jack's longing, wistful gaze lie upon the garden where flowers bloomed aplenty.

"I can get water here," he said, "but that's not the only thing I need. I need soil and moonlight, too, or I'll…"

Chase's immediate instinct was to say _no._ Jack was _his_ nymph, _his_ prize, he'd caught him fair and square! He would _not_ take Jack outside, where he could change and escape him like so many nymphs before him had escaped their human lovers!

Perhaps sensing Chase's hesitation, Jack spoke up again. "I like it here," he promised. "You treat me well. I'm happy. I don't want to leave you, I just…don't want to die, either."

And there was the deal-breaker.

Chase sighed deeply. He _really_ did not want to do this, but if Jack spoke the truth…

The lord forced down his possessive instincts and chose to take a leap of faith.

**_715. Frontier- _**

Chase watched apprehensively as Jack gave a happy sigh, lying back against the cool soil of the garden.

Immediately, he wanted to move forward, to grab the nymph up and take him back inside where he _could not_ escape, but he held himself back. If he were to do that…if he were to show Jack that he trusted him so little, real trust could _never_ exist between them.

Besides, deep down, he knew that this was necessary lest the chance for there to _be_ trust be taken away permanently.

Oblivious to his master's thoughts, Jack was busy basking in the moonlight like a sacred datura, eyes closed in bliss as his body began to rejuvenate. His feet were buried in the rich soil of his lord's garden, taking in the nutrients and life-giving water to be found there. He could feel Chase's eyes on him, watching for any sign of treachery, but he was determined to give the man nothing to worry about and simply relaxed.

Eventually, after many, many minutes of neither moving, there came about a tentative peace. Jack's form was not changing, and Chase was not trying to exert any sort of control over Jack: this was okay.

Chase visibly calmed upon that realization. It was probably a milestone of some sort, a pioneering of the frontier of nymph-human relationships; perhaps the first time _ever_ that a nymph had been trusted not to flee from a human and then _didn't,_ but that was far from the lord's mind, now.

All he could think of was how much better Jack looked now that he had been allowed this time outside. His hair was once more vibrant and lovely and his skin had returned to its pale, silky smoothness. His body had even filled out again, coming back to the slim, but healthy look it'd had before the withered and skeletal one had set in.

"You see?" Jack smiled to him, eyes still closed in delight as he body was refreshed by the earth. "I don't want to leave you, my lord. I just don't want to die before getting to fully enjoy your courtship." He reached out a long, graceful arm and settled his hand upon Chase's.

Chase turned his palm upwards to properly hold Jack's hand in his own. "Yes," he slowly agreed with a smile. "I trust you."

**_716. Spicy- _**

Chase was an odd combination of furious and anxious.

When Jack had mentioned that he was being forced to attend one of his mother's fancy galas, his master had automatically denied the invite to come with.

Upper crust parties, at least the mortal ones, were _not_ Chase's thing. He _loathed_ having to hold himself back, hiding his power for mere _humans_ when he could display it openly among supernaturals of his own kind, and so when given the choice to attend the ball or remain home, his decision had been obvious.

However, with Jack _having_ to show up lest he be declared dead in the eyes of Sylvia Spicer, Chase had decided that observing the party to keep watch over his apprentice and lover was perfectly acceptable.

Now, the great Heylin lord _seethed_ as he glared at the real-time image displayed through the Eye Spy Orb of _his_ Jack being chatted up by some wealthy young man.

That was where most of the 'furious' part came in. This impudent whelp, this stupid twit not even an _eighth_ of his age was trying to take that which belonged to _him._ It was even _more_ irritating that the blond-haired, blue-eyed, Aryan society boy with every privilege since birth didn't even _realize_ who he was trying to steal away or more importantly, from _whom._

Oh, but that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was the reason for Chase's anxiety: Jack was clearly being _charmed_ by this interloper.

Naturally, Chase knew the depth of Spicer's loyalty to him. He knew that Jack would never intentionally betray what they had with one another.

Unfortunately, he also knew his lover's utter obliviousness in all matters sensual. Likely, the ignorant fool was completely unaware that this other young man was trying to seduce him and wouldn't be any the wiser until he was sweet-talked off to a secluded area somewhere and coaxed to remove his clothing.

If it came to that, Jack would naturally balk and try to excuse himself, and Chase had had a lifetime of reading people to be able to recognize the types that wouldn't take no for an answer that close to sex.

If the man Jack was speaking to got him alone somewhere, believing he was about to get laid and Jack refused him, he would become one of those people.

Consequently, Chase was on full minion-safety alert, just _waiting_ for any shenanigans to be attempted on his watch.

The conversation he watched took a different turn and the dragonlord's attention perked.

_"You're really interesting, Jack,"_ the blond man purred. _"I'd love to hear more about your work with robotics, but…maybe somewhere…**away** from the other guests?"_

Chase _really_ need to teach Jack that certain tones of voice meant 'horny,' because the genius naïvely replied, _"Oh, well, there's a garden out back. Nobody should be out there, and we'll be fine so long as we steer clear of mom's roses."_

The other man reached out and grabbed Jack's hand. Chase inhaled sharply and prepared to teleport to the gala and provide some sort of excuse as to why Jack could not go with him.

And then, he didn't have to as the blond doomed his chances of having sex that night on his own.

_"That sounds great. Come on, Spicy, why don't you show me the way?"_

The sound of a balloon deflating was practically audible following the sentence. Immediately, Jack frowned, his nose scrunching up like he'd gotten a whiff of soured milk. His shoulders went from relaxed to tense in a mere second, and he didn't hesitate to remove his hand from the other man's grip.

_"Uh…actually,"_ Jack replied, slowly beginning to back away, _"I think mom wanted me to meet some of her friends… I'm gonna…go. It was nice talking to you."_

Chase openly laughed at the dumb look on the blond's face as the pretty albino he'd been chatting up turned and left, easily losing him in the crowd. It was clear he had absolutely no idea what'd turned the vibes of his would-be one night stand from 'eager' to 'no way in hell' in only one sentence.

But, Chase knew perfectly well what had happened and it amused him to no end.

Jack absolutely _hated_ the nickname, 'Spicy.' It was a turn-off of epic proportions for him as Chase had found out mere weeks before taking Jack as his lover, having spotted Jack and his then-boyfriend stripping and about to go at it like rabbits. The boyfriend had called Jack, 'Spicy,' and Jack had dumped him on the spot.

Again, Chase laughed as the insignificant, little rich boy shook his head and walked away in search of somebody else up for a quick fuck, dismissing the Eye Spy Orb entirely.

The warlord felt more at ease, now, with the fact that Jack was not within the confines of his keep nor under his observation. Yes, some might try to seduce his lover away or charm him into becoming theirs, and yes, Spicer, the oblivious little idiot might _almost_ be seduced or charmed, but in the end, Chase knew he had nothing to worry about.

Jack would never stray for very long, because _nobody_ would ever know him as well as Chase did.

**_717. Marmalade- _**

Jack sat at the table, enjoying the quiet of early morning. The scent of a delicious breakfast teased his nose, making him instinctively salivate in preparation of eating it. Various jungle cats were strewn about his feet, some half asleep and some begging for scraps.

Diol, in particular, was curled up around the legs of Jack's chair. His agenda was split and he was part-sleeping, part-protecting his master's lover, and part-hoping for a piece of bacon to be tossed down to him in gratitude.

Jack looked up as his warlord belatedly staggered into the dining room, eyes closed as he navigated himself to the table by memory. Contrary to expectations, Chase Young was _not_ a morning person and often had to be forcibly dragged out of bed.

It was an honest miracle that he was out of bed before noon on his own.

Still, Chase was not looking his best, dressed in only a robe and slippers with his hair disheveled every which way. Normally, he was highly concerned with his physical appearance, but, as Jack had discovered, only when he was awake enough to _care_ about anything.

"I made you coffee, baby," Jack found himself saying automatically.

Chase reluctantly cracked an eye open and grunted in response, picking up the hot mug of coffee from the table and taking a much-needed sip. Without the coffee, it would likely take him _hours_ to become fully conscious, but even with it, Jack had a few minutes essentially to himself.

It was an odd situation he was in, the albino mused. Almost 300 years with Chase! In his younger days, Jack had always thought if he succeeded in winning a place by the Heylin everlord's side, his life would be a constant stream of evil-doing and action. Every day, he'd imagined, would be spent thwarting monks and kicking puppies and winning Wu.

He hadn't ever considered these lapses that tended to happen in immortal life, long stretches of time where absolutely nothing interesting happened.

The most recent generation of Xiaolin had grown old and useless in battle at least a decade ago and no new recruits had been found, leaving Jack and his master and lover with very little to do in the meantime.

Jack reached out and grabbed a piece of toast from the table, spreading orange marmalade upon it.

Contrary to what he'd thought life with Chase would be like, this was…extremely _domestic._

Across the table, Chase yawned and then gave a disgusted groan. "Ugh," he hissed to himself, "I'm a mess."

Jack smiled. "It's early, baby, don't worry about it," he soothed. _"Everybody_ looks like shit in the morning."

Chase merely frowned and shrugged, helping himself to some scrambled eggs and sausage. Jack's grin broadened and he took a bite of his toast, savoring the combination of crunch and sweetness.

Yeah, breakfasts like these were pretty domestic, he acknowledged, but who the hell wanted to fight little Xiaolin twerps _every_ day, anyways?

**_718. Awesomesauce- _**

Chase lie panting for breath on the sheets of his bed, reveling in the afterglow of a _really_ good orgasm.

"Well, Spicer?" he smirked at his bedmate. "Was that everything you hoped it would be?"

Jack, more out of shape than his martial artist lover, was even more winded from the sexual activity and took a moment to reply. "Dude," he gasped after a moment, "that was…fucking amazing… Totally awesomesauce…!"

And Chase frowned, suddenly feeling very old. Goddamn teenagers and their slang…

**_719. Sarah Palin - _**

Chase sneered in derision, watching the news. "Spicer, get in here," he called to his consort, "you won't want to miss this drivel."

"What is it?" the goth called back from the other room.

"It's that woman, Sarah Palin. She-"

Almost immediately, Jack was by his side on the loveseat, eagerly watching. "Aw, cool, what's she done this time?" he excitedly inquired.

For a moment, Chase didn't answer. "What in the name of the gods do you _see_ in this woman, anyways?" he eventually demanded.

"Are you kidding?" Jack grinned. "She's great! Do you have any idea how much hilarity I've gotten out of this idiot?"

"No, tell me."

"Well, for one thing, look at her kids!" Jack snickered. "Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig. 4/5ths of those are objects and Bristol is a place. Can you even fathom the kind of stupid you'd have to be to name _all five_ of your kids after things and a place instead of, y'know, _people_ names?"

Chase glanced back at the television. "I'm assuming I would have to be as stupid as _her,_" he conceded, gesturing to the bespectacled woman on the screen.

Jack laughed, scooting in closer to the warlord. "That's right," he confirmed. "See? Old dogs _can_ learn new tricks!"

The elder man swiftly bopped the youth upside the head. "Watch yourself, Spicer," he warned, "or you're liable to be struck so hard, you'll consider being able to see Russia from Alaska adequate foreign policy experience."

Chase grinned as Jack laughed again and snuggled closer. Perhaps American politics were good for something, after all…

**_720. Dragonbane - _**

"You…are cruel."

"I know," Jack grinned.

"You're sincerely lucky you didn't cause me any real pain," Chase sneered back at him. "If you had, we wouldn't having this conversation right now because I'd have killed you."

"You're just pissed 'cause you fainted."

"I _blacked out._ Heylin lords do not _faint!_"

"Okay, then," Jack conceded, "you blacked out. Then, you're pissed 'cause I caught you red-handed."

To that, Chase snorted and said nothing.

Jack laughed. "Aw, come on, don't be a bitch, you had to have seen this coming! You do this every year, Chase; you think I wouldn't catch on after a few?"

Again, the warlord glared, first at his consort and then at the metallic book upon the table, causing his senses to dull to near-mortal status in its presence.

"From now on," the albino informed him, "you are going to be _surprised_ on your birthday, and if that means I've gotta have a diary made out of dragonbane, then, so be it!"

Chase practically hissed in response and stormed out of the room, leaving Jack to roll his eyes at his prima donna of a master.

Chase was supremely unhappy, now, but his consort was absolutely certain his tune would change when January rolled around and for once, he wouldn't already know what his present was.

******--**

**A/N: _Unrelenting-_ Continuation of _Horse_ and _Profile,_ both from Chapter 68.**

**_Collar-_ No comment. ;P**

**_Dew-_ No comment.**

**_Gate-_ Continuation of _Dew._**

**_Frontier-_ Continuation of _Dew_ and _Gate._**

**_Spicy-_ With a last name like Spicer, you're bound to get a lot of idiots calling you 'Spicy' and thinking they're clever. Jack has had more than enough of those people, as you can tell. :D**

**_Marmalade-_ Obligatory fluff! :DDD**

**_Awesomesauce-_ Jack's gonna have a _lot_ of apologizing to do! XD**

**Jack: Aw, come on, you know I didn't mean to make you feel bad...**  
**Chase: *hmph***  
**Jack: It's just the way I talk!**  
**Chase: *HMPH***  
**Jack: I'll snuggle with you if you forgive me...**  
**Chase: ......well, alright, then... .**

**_Sarah Palin-_ No comment. **

**_Dragonbane-_ Nosy-Chase is nosy and finally pays the price for it. XD**

**A brand new chapter of Anthology! Aren't you all happy? I'm finally getting off my ass and writing stuff! :)**

**Anyways, not much to say other than that, so thanks for reading and I hope you liked it! :D**


	73. Chapter 73

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

_**721. Masque-**_

Chase was thoroughly fond of his consort's quirks and oddities. Aside from the fact that it sharpened his instincts and his ability to react quickly when he often had to be prepared for any and all unexpected situations (yes, including ones that involved squirrels and skiing accidents), there were certain things that Jack said and did that were…endearing.

Of course it was charming when he thanked his everlord for some deed or other by baking him richly decadent things that had to have been made of pure chocolate. Certainly, it was entertaining that when he was upset about something his master had done, he would refuse to communicate in any way other than petulantly sticking his tongue out at him. Definitely, it could be called _cute,_ of all things, that the youth could watch Chase coldly kill a man with no problem whatsoever, only to grow queasy should he be asked to come _near_ any of the blood.

What Chase liked best, however, was Jack's habit of sleep-talking.

Jack would not do this very often—only when truly exhausted and on autopilot, allowing his subconscious mind to take over for the conscious part while it rested. Unfortunately for the genius, and fortunately for his lover in terms of entertainment, said subconscious was filled to the brim with all of the superfluous things Jack had learned as a child: skills, historical events, cultures, governments, and of course, _languages._

Chase could still remember how startled he'd been to wake up on that first night of sleep-talking, Jack lying beside him in bed, clearly asleep and calmly telling him all about the fallacies of political arguments in these modern times—in a perfectly fluent Hindi dialect.

Jack, of course, had no idea what he spoke of on nights when the rest of him felt particularly talkative. Chase had only made the slightest suggestion that his lover might have a habit of somniloquy before he was scoffed at and shrugged off.

Of course, it didn't really matter whether or not Jack knew: Chase did, and it was a fact that kept him amused on nights when his consort was too tired to perform his nightly duties.

Tonight was one of those nights, it seemed as Chase eyed the young man in bed with him. Jack had another quirk associated with that of his sleep-talking, and he only ever slept on his back when he was about to hold a slumbering conversation.

Jack had spoken Japanese the last time, ranting very heatedly about his disappointment in the lack of ninja-training academies in the world, these days, and Chase was quite eager to find out what this night would bring from the goth's mouth.

"Pourquoi je suis ici?" he murmured. "Je ne veux pas être ici…"

The dragonlord grinned. French, tonight…interesting.

Jack scowled in his sleep. "Apportez-moi la maison. Cette chambre pue."

Chase wondered just what it was his love was dreaming, demanding to be taken home because the room offended his nose.

"Vous?" the youth asked, sounding startled. "Non, je ne vous hais pas…"

Again, Chase wondered who it was that his Jack didn't hate.

"Il n'a rien à voir avec vous. Je veux juste rentrer à la maison…"

Home seemed to be the common theme, tonight; just why did he want to go there so badly?

"Ce n'est pas que tu es laid. Vous m'avez pris," Jack explained, sounding uncertain, "Je ne veux pas ..."

Who wasn't ugly? Who had taken him? What didn't he want?

"Non… Ne pas porter un _masque._ Il n'est pas nécessaire."

And now, Jack was insisting that someone not wear a mask, for it wasn't needed. Chase frowned: what _was_ his consort dreaming of?

And then, Jack's words became telling. "Chase…" he mumbled, half under his breath. "Non. Vous êtes belle. Je t'aime… ma bête."

And there, Chase was torn between a smile and an outright laugh, for Jack was dreaming of the Beauty and the Beast fairy-tale, with himself and his overlord in the starring roles. He must have been, for all that he had said would fit perfectly. He had called Chase by his name, labeled him a beast, but professed love for him, anyway; called him beautiful.

Jack was a perfect consort: even asleep, he managed to please his beloved.

Chase bent and pressed a saccharine, little kiss to Jack's white forehead. "Je t'aime aussi, ma beauté," he purred to the sleeping youth.

_**722. Stripes-**_

"Laying down for a catnap?"

Golden eyes flickered open at the voice. Primal thought-processes were immediately in effect: who was speaking? Where was he? What threat did he pose? What was the best way to kill him and _how_ had he gotten so close in the first place?

And then, he saw who it was: Jack.

Chase's tense muscles relaxed instantly and he resumed his leisurely sunbathing. Of course it would be Jack. No one else could get so close to him these days without triggering his tiger instincts.

"More of a dragon-nap, actually," he found himself slyly correcting, giving a languid stretch that adequately showed this off. Claws shining in the sun, tail steadily whipping side to side…yes, it would be difficult to see him as anything _but_ an apex predator.

"Mmm, sounds nice," Jack hummed quietly. "Mind if I join you?"

Chase's eyes fell shut and he momentarily considered it. What Spicer was asking was not a request typically made of him. Not very many wanted to lie with a monster such as he and for a moment, he considered turning down Jack's request for being false.

But, no.

Spicer was a screwball, occasionally fluffier in the head than his IQ would lead one to believe, and his interests were often frivolous at best. Even so, Chase had come to learn that Jack never asked for something he didn't want, no matter how odd or silly what he _did_ want was.

"Not at all," the dragon eventually purred, shifting his body to make room for his lover.

Jack smiled and knelt, crawling up to the beast and nestling himself against his side. A thick tail swept before him as soon as he was settled and the goth made no protest as the end coiled around his slim waist.

Taking only a brief moment to make certain that his large body adequately blocked the sunlight from his sensitive Jack, Chase rested his head on the floor and allowed himself to slip back into a light doze.

An indeterminable amount of time later, he was rousted from his sleep again. This time, it was the gentle stroking of fingers that put an end to his slumber.

Cracking one eye and glancing to his consort, Chase found the youth half-asleep as well, cheek pressed up against his ribs while his long, white fingers skated over a dark band of scales.

The contrast of the pale skin and the borderline-black scales was interesting to the dragonlord and he watched Jack's lazy, loving strokes with both eyes open for awhile.

Jack was not a warrior. He would've cottoned onto the fact that he was being watched immediately if he were, but as it was, several long minutes passed before the realization hit.

Red eyes blinked, mildly startled to see slit gold observing his actions so intently. Jack paused in his stroking and sat up a little straighter.

Chase had to hold back a laugh. His consort looked strangely sweet with rumpled hair and half-lidded eyes, but the scale pattern impressed upon his cheek was simply adorable.

"I like your stripes," Spicer sheepishly admitted to him. "They look cool…"

The dragon grinned, a thing full of huge teeth that would normally be very scary, though Jack hardly seemed afraid. "Thank you, consort," he said, curling his body just a little tighter around Jack and causing him to fall back against the beast. "I appreciate the sentiment."

Chase watched as Jack gave a tired smile in response and snuggled into a comfortable position again without protest. "Love you," he said on a yawn, content to sleep easy with his beast of a master.

"Xin ài," Chase named him in return, just as happy to continue resting with the warm weight of his Jack upon him.

_**723. Veins-**_

It was with a passive, contemplative gaze that Chase watched Jack work within the bowels of his 'lair.'

Jack was currently engrossed in whatever project he had recently begun. Chase knew well that when the youth immersed himself in one of his endeavors, he _immersed_ himself. His master's presence here was partially to make sure Jack would remember to eat when dinner rolled around in half an hour or so.

As for the rest of it…Chase felt like watching today.

It was natural for Jack to work with his beloved trench coat off. The leather article was like a second skin to the goth, but no matter how dearly he loved it, when confined in a basement, surrounded by hot machinery, and doing strenuous work that usually involved being under said hot machinery, the coat simply _had_ to be shrugged off.

Normally, Chase enjoyed this when he watched his consort work, as the lack of jacket allowed him to see more of Spicer's body; the slender swimmer's build that proved to be oh, so flexible in bed…

Even now, he enjoyed the view, but his attention was not fixed on the sexual.

Instead, he found his eyes on Jack's skin, simply…looking.

The fluorescent lighting down here in the lab was playing marvelous tricks on Jack's pale body, illuminating him and making him glow like a paper lantern on a pitch black night. It was impossible to deny the loveliness of the sight, certainly, but it did cause Chase to reflect.

Contrary to expectations, the dragonlord possessed no affinity whatsoever for pale skin. In fact, he quite abhorred it as a rule!

Growing up in ancient China, there had been the influence of his culture, where white skin was seen as a beautiful quality in a lover.

Chase had never really bought into it: those around him with pale skin, _truly_ pallid complexions did not seem lovely to his eyes. They looked frail and weak; _sickly_ enough that the slightest little thing could kill them!

As he grew older and began training as a Xiaolin monk, his opinion of this only strengthened. These people who worshipped paraffin skin, who wore it themselves were practically translucent and the veins in their body were visible to anyone who cared to look. It was a detraction in battle and an unaffordable weakness to show off those veins.

The veins, after all, mapped the body and the flow of blood through it and any martial artist worth his salt knew well the pressure points on a human that could result in paralysis (temporary or otherwise) or death. Having skin so see-through was foolish if one were to be attacked; like providing your opponent with a map of yourself peppered with terribly convenient, 'strike here' signs!

That was what had made it so shocking when Jack had stumbled his way into the picture and Chase had not immediately found himself repulsed.

Spicer was pale, certainly much paler than any the warlord had seen before. By all accounts, Chase should've taken one look at the boy, scoffed, and carried on with his life.

But that was hardly the case, of course.

Perhaps it was the lack of the other qualities that allowed Chase this strange attraction. Jack's skin was white as a dove's feathers, but he did not look sickly. He was lively, spirited, and reckless in an altogether jarring way that was somehow interesting.

Jack was far from weak, too. Granted, he was not a warrior in any sense of the word, but his sheer resilience was remarkable: Spicer seemed able to bounce back from _anything,_ from things that could kill a normal human.

Even his veins, which were quite obviously visible beneath his borderline transparent skin failed to put Chase off. Jack kept himself covered up so often, _always_ on the battlefield, that when he did appear in Chase's sight with noticeable veins, it failed to cause the usual thoughts of vulnerability.

Instead, it felt more like an allowance of trust. Jack adored him endlessly and had studied him years before actually meeting him. Surely, he was aware that showing himself to Chase without thorough covering was tantamount to placing his life in the dragonlord's hands and trusting him not to end it.

It was a…pleasant thought that _anyone_ trusted him so much, flattering enough that Chase had decided Jack was worthy of living and eventually, worthy of living as his consort.

There was a winded sigh that tore Chase from his musings and he glanced over just in time to see Jack, covered in a faint sheen of sweat, strip off his shirt and awkwardly attempt to fan himself with it.

"Fuck, it's hot," he murmured before turning his gaze towards his overlord. "What's up with you?"

Chase grinned. "Nothing, Spicer, merely thinking. Would you care for a cool shower before dinner, xin ài?"

Jack returned the question with a dazzling smile of his own. "Only if you join me," he teased coyly.

Chase needed only one look at Jack's slim, snow-white body and the bright, mischievous glimmer in his eyes before deciding. "I would be more than happy to, Jack," he assured.

Perhaps later, he could wonder more on why he found that which repelled him so _alluring_ on Jack and only Jack.

_**724. Tempest-**_

"Oh, wow, is that really the time?"

Chase frowned, mildly irritated that the easy flow of the conversation had been interrupted. He spared a glance at the clock in his study, where he always took the most welcome of guests before replying. "Yes," he said, "that clock is correct. Are you really so eager to leave?"

The young man sitting across from him immediately shook his head. "No," he assured, "it's just that I usually don't stay this late. I should probably be going."

Chase's frown deepened ever so slightly. "Why your rush? It's not as if there's anyone at home to miss you, Spicer."

And yes, it was true: the warlord's current guest was none other than Jack Spicer, former Heylin screw-up extraordinaire. As of late, however, he had proven himself much less of a screw-up and much more of an interesting player for the side of evil.

Chase was certain that it was the full emergence from puberty and entrance into manhood that had caused the marvelous change in the genius. It was the only thing that made sense of the sudden lack of gangly klutziness and silly, impulsive decisions that coincided with the abundance of self-confidence and the new, level-headed way of thinking.

Either way, Spicer's maturation had led to association between Chase and the up-and-coming villain, initially a partnership (one that could finally be _trusted_ now that Jack no longer tended to betray his allies immediately) and now, more of a tentative acquaintanceship.

Chase himself had come to rather like the arrangement, as it had been quite some time since there was anyone Heylin he cared to chat civilly with, much less invite over for tea.

"I don't expect to worry anybody at home," Jack said matter-of-factly. "I'm more worried about bothering _you,_ here."

"Bother me? Jack, if you'll recall, I _invited_ you into my home, and what's more, I've hardly given you any reason to think you bothered me. I was enjoying our conversation quite a bit."

Jack smiled. "Me, too, but it _is_ pretty late. Any later, and this might turn into a sleep-over; the last thing I want to do is inconvenience you." The 'after all the years I spent doing that,' went duly unsaid.

To this, Chase conceded and stood, his guest following suit. "Very well," he said. "At least allow me to show you out."

Spicer smiled at him again, clearly having nothing against the prospect.

The two of them left the study in silence, Jack following Chase closely as they traversed the maze-like hallways that prevented unwanted guests from finding their way much further than the foyer. Soon enough, they arrived at the main door, which flung itself open at a whim from its master.

A sudden gust of wind greeted Chase immediately, blowing his hair back and whipping it about like a silk ribbon. Only a few droplets of water were blown inside along with the draft, a contrast to the steady, torrential downpour going on only a little past the porch. Several arcs of lightning streaked across the sky, quickly followed up by the ominous boom and crack of thunder.

Quite the tempest was raging in the Land of Nowhere, it seemed.

Well, surely, Jack could not fly home in this mess. That would be foolish beyond all reason, and it would hardly be courteous of him as a host not to provide him with other, safer options.

Just as Chase prepared to will the door shut and offer to teleport his guest home, Jack stepped forward.

"Yikes," he muttered, "this is gonna be some rough flying…" Even so, he sighed and extended the propellers of his helipack. "Thanks for inviting me, Chase. I'll see you whenever!"

For a moment, Chase had nothing to say. Spicer _truly_ intended to go home in this; as opposed to asking to stay the night or at least wait out the storm. To fly in such awful weather, even for an aviator as skilled as Jack was certain death…and yet, Jack was choosing it instead of possibly causing Chase any inconvenience.

Such _respect_ that was! Crazy, certainly, but undoubtedly respectful to Chase's authority as an all-powerful warlord.

Did Spicer truly venerate him so deeply? Enough to risk the sort of gale that could flood cities, blow away houses, and sink ships?

Hmm…

A thoughtful expression on his face, Chase reached out and laid a hand on the goth's shoulder, garnering his attention. "Jack," he said, "don't be foolish: even _you_ have more common sense than this."

Jack's eyebrows knit and his mouth formed an unconscious pout. He started to speak, only to be quickly cut off.

"This storm is dreadful," Chase pointed out. "If you aren't blinded by the rain or knocked off-course by the wind, that helipack of yours will turn you into a lightning rod. At that altitude, even if the shock doesn't kill you, the ensuing fall will."

"Well…how else am I supposed to get home?" the young man wondered.

Chase could've offered the very viable solution of magically transporting Jack home as he'd planned. Instead, in light of that which had come to his attention, he smiled. "It _is_ late, as you've said. We might as well turn this into a sleep-over, don't you think?"

The dragonlord could've laughed at the bright and hopeful expression that spread across Jack's face at the suggestion, looking almost like the days when Jack was thirteen and hopelessly excitable, positively _giddy_ when Chase so much as looked his way.

"Really?" he wondered, sounding both thrilled and dubious at once (an odd combination to be sure). "I mean…you won't mind or anything?"

"I can't imagine I would suggest _anything_ if I weren't prepared to follow through with it," Chase nonchalantly shrugged. He half-turned, using the hand still on Jack's shoulder to guide him back in and out of the way of the door, which then proceeded to swing shut. "Now, come: let's find you something appropriate to sleep in."

Pleased as Spicer followed him without hesitation, Chase idly wondered just how far this…alliance of theirs would progress.

_**725. Epigone-**_

Everything about Chase Young appeared perfectly relaxed.

His breathing was slow and steady. His posture was straight, but far from tense. His facial expression was blasé, if not flat-out blank. The way he sat on his throne, with one leg draped over the other, was casual at best.

Certainly, anyone looking at that moment in time would see a powerful, regal man lounging about carelessly, perhaps even appearing a little bit bored!

Yes, everything about him was peaceful and calm…

…save, of course, for the hand curled fiercely around the arm of his chair, fist clenched so tightly that it was a miracle the furniture hadn't yet given way beneath his crushing grip.

Before him was his Eye Spy Orb, with which he kept tabs on a variety of goings-on outside of his palace. As of now, he merely stared at the sight it showed him, failing to show anymore of his anger outwardly than the tight clench of his fingers.

Miles and miles away from Chase, Jack Spicer slept peacefully in his bed, oblivious to his one-warlord audience. Of course, he was also oblivious to the movement occurring on the other side of his bed.

Sitting up and shrugging off the black sheets of Spicer's bed was a young man, looking to be in his early-to-mid twenties; certainly a few years older than Jack, at least. Shoulder-length black hair was groggily scratched at and the man stood, stretching his thin, lanky body as he did so. Oh, certainly, the man had musculature to him, but it was far from a fighter's build; far from anything that might impress a martial artist.

Chase was likewise far from impressed.

He watched as the man inspected his surroundings with dull, utterly _mortal_ brown eyes; Chase decided that he most definitively appeared Japanese, though his facial structure implied he had quite a bit of European blood in him, as well.

The nameless man seemed to remember where he was and walked calmly around the bed, a hand sweeping affectionately over one of the sleeping Jack's feet as he passed it.

Chase found himself hissing through clenched teeth at the action.

The stranger disappeared into the bathroom, likely to wash up, and Chase spared one more glance at the quite-obviously-naked-beneath-those-covers Jack before tersely dismissing the Eye Spy Orb.

Jack, it seemed, had gotten himself a lover.

The chair's arm at last splintered under Chase's vice-like grip and an expression of anger—no, _fury_ at last seeped onto the warlord's face.

No. No, this would not stand, not at _all._ Jack would _not_ have this…this mere _child_ as a partner.

One such as Jack should not be so disgraced as to have such a plain, pathetic creature as his bed-partner, especially not one so obviously mortal and _human._ Of course, Spicer was mortal and human himself, but nothing about him, from his white skin and red eyes and practically fluorescent hair attested to it! Why should his lover be anything but unique, as _he_ clearly was?

He deserved better; _far_ better! Far better than puling and puny little men like this that were clearly a lousy substitute; a poor stand-in; an insulting epigone meant to simulate the mighty Chase Young!

Pfah, it was downright offensive that Jack bothered to consider this man worth even _that_ much.

Chase stood, breathing deeply to calm his nerves and center himself. He had to be calm: acting rashly would solve nothing. He had to _think._

Spicer would not continue carrying on with this…companion of his.

Chase wouldn't _let_ him.

_**726. Flail-**_

Jack had pestered and pestered and pestered him, for days upon weeks upon almost a straight month in an attempt to get his way.

The beach, he'd said he wanted, a day at the beach with his lover and master.

It was a silly request, but even Chase's legendary patience could not hold in the face of one so _good_ at irritation as Spicer, and the warlord gave in.

The day had been planned meticulously, the date of the trip needing to be under very special conditions. As an albino, Jack was not all that resistant to heavy sun (why he wanted to go to the beach in the first place was yet a mystery) and to expose him to it would be painful and unpleasant.

Finally, though, an overcast day came about, when the chosen beach only moments ago sunny darkened, making the environment relatively Jack-safe.

So, Jack had been given his way. Chase had further helped his consort by lathering him all over with sunblock and had then unceremoniously sent him off, choosing to lounge about on the sand while Jack frolicked in the water.

And of course, not five minutes later…this.

Jack was chest-deep in the ocean, flailing like a madman and shrieking for all he was worth.

"Chase," he wailed to the shore, "something's got me!" His head dipped beneath the surface for a moment, due to a wave and his own hysteria, and he came up sputtering and spitting out salt water. "Help, it's eating me! I wanna _live!_"

Chase did not appear at all worried as he trudged from his comfortable beach towel, taking his sweet time in wading out to where his lover howled about sea monsters and megalodons and, 'I knew they'd come for me one day!'

The dragonlord calmly slid beneath the water, popping back up moments later to a perfectly calm and no-longer-flailing Jack.

"Did you get it?" the goth eagerly asked.

Chase nodded, raising his hand from the water to show off the piece of seaweed that had wrapped itself around Jack's foot.

Jack stared at it for a moment. "…oh," he said eventually. There was another long silence, with Chase simply holding his gaze, and the youth sheepishly added, "Thanks…"

Chase carelessly flung the seaweed away from the both of them before returning to the shore, squeezing his long mane of hair as dry as he could and resuming his lounging on the beach towel.

He wasn't at all surprised by the passing events: this sort of thing usually happened whenever Spicer got his way.

_**727. Quixotic-**_

"What do you suppose we should do with these trespassers, my consort?"

Chase watched an expression of sheer terror wash over the faces of the captive monks. It was amusing to see them so frightened of leaving their fate up to Jack Spicer, the enemy they seemed to have the least bit of trouble defeating (and the most trouble taking seriously).

They must've known just as well as he the effect of placing the frequently picked on in charge.

Jack, conversely to their fear, grinned; a dark, malicious thing that had Chase quite proud of him.

"That's a good question," he said, slowly prowling closer to the Xiaolin. "The punishment should fit the crime, shouldn't it?"

Chase nodded, pleased with his lover's predatory stride. It wasn't perfect, not _quite_ as intimidating as it could be; not yet, anyways, but there would be plenty of time for him to practice it further. "Indeed it should. Just what did you have in mind?"

"Well…" Chase smiled, truly unable to _not_ admire the purposefully long pause Jack gave, drawing out his words and instilling further fear in the silently awaiting monks. "What they did was ironic, to say the least. They tried to steal from us—"

"We're the good guys!" Kimiko sharply interrupted. "We can't just let you _have_ all those Wu!"

"It's that kind of quixotic thinking that renders ideals pointless and gets people killed," Jack coolly snapped at her, stunning her into silence. "By the laws of the conflict as I understand it, if a Wu is won in a Showdown, it was won fair and square and there is no good reason to repossess it."

Chase nodded for confirmation at Jack's questioning gaze.

"Well, what about _you?_" Raimundo demanded. "You used to steal our Wu all the time! What's _your_ excuse?"

"There's no _good_ reason to repossess a Shen Gong Wu," Jack happily reiterated. "There are plenty of bad reasons and I'm Heylin. You four, on the other hand, are Xiaolin: you should be playing by the rules, shouldn't you?"

The monks were quiet.

Chase smiled as Jack continued. "Theft is a criminal act, anyways, no matter how noble the reasons behind it are. You wouldn't say it's alright to steal a diamond ring from a rich woman even if you were going to sell it and give the money to the poor, would you?"

More silence.

"So, it's ironic what you were trying to do: you, the good guys, were _stealing_ from us, the bad guys, under the pretense of preventing our wrong-doings."

Chase had to refrain from outright cheering for his consort at the sight of the monks looking pitifully ashamed of their misdeeds; and at only a few words from Jack, too!

"Have you decided on their punishment?" he wondered.

Jack grinned at the sulking, likely-undergoing-a-miniature-identity-crisis Xiaolin. "Y'know," he decided, "I think that's punishment enough."

Chase nodded and released the magical bind he'd put on the intruders to his home, watching as they scampered away with very little interest.

The moment they were out the door, Jack turned to him. "How'd I do?"

"Wonderfully," Chase assured. "You're getting quite good at the subtlety aspect of being evil, my Jack."

Jack smirked. "What else would you expect? I've got the best teacher."

_**728. Precipice-**_

With trembling hands, knuckles even whiter than usual, Jack clung desperately to the rock face, staring up at his tormentor in abject horror.

Wuya's smirking face looked down at him, wicked and smug: she knew well just how easily she could get away with this.

"I'm afraid this is the last time we'll be meeting this way, Jackie," she teased. "You know, I always sort of liked you."

Still scrabbling for better purchase and wishing that he both weighed a lot less and could lift a lot more weight, Jack scoffed.

"No, no, it's true," the witch assured him. "You freed me from my prison, after all, and I'm grateful for that. You were such a good tool, too; obedient, if not as able to get the job done as I would've liked. Effort counts for something, though."

Not for the first time since he'd been knocked back moments ago, Jack was wishing Wuya hadn't managed to destroy his helipack. Then, he wouldn't mind the imminent falling so much, as it wouldn't mean death.

"I was going to hand you over to Bean," Wuya continued to explain. "That way I could be honest with Chase and tell him I didn't hurt a hair on your head. I think I like this better, though." She smirked and her precariously captive audience shuddered. "I can act. I can run to Chase crying and tell him all about how we were just standing here talking when poor Jackie, clumsy thing, lost his balance and fell right over the edge! I tried to save him, Chase," she melodramatically cried, "but without my magic, I wasn't quick enough!"

Jack managed to pull himself up a little further, one whole hand now on solid rock instead of just his fingers.

Said hand was quickly stomped on with all the force Wuya could muster. Considering she knew her way around a roundhouse kick, this was quite a bit of force, indeed, and several bones broke beneath her foot with a sickening snap.

Jack yelped in pain and recoiled, now hanging from the precipice with only one set of fingers.

"Goodbye, Jack," Wuya purred, bringing her foot right up against Jack's shaky hand. "I'll give Chase your regards."

And with one swift nudge, Jack was falling; falling and _screaming_ for all he was worth miles and miles downward. Terrified and knowing the ground must be coming up on him fast, he hoped to whatever god would listen that he really _was_ a terrible villain and that his misdeeds would only earn him a mildly unpleasant fate in hell, if it existed.

There was an impact and Jack shut his eyes tightly, hoping he wouldn't survive the crash and would instead die instantly.

He waited…and waited…and waited…

Eventually, it caught up to the understandably stressed genius that he was no longer falling; had _not_ been falling for a good several minutes and neither was he in pain or dead (that he knew of; he hadn't been dead very often).

Shaking, he tentatively cracked open his eyes and he was greeted with the sight of a familiar armored chest.

"…Chase…?"

The dragonlord nuzzled him, almost instantly soothing his nerves. "Yes, Jack, I'm here. You're safe."

Jack deflated with a shaky sigh, going limp in his master's arms. "Oh, god…oh, fuck…" he muttered. "I thought I was gonna…I almost…" He glanced around, noticing that the two of them were at the very bottom on the mountain. "How'd you—"

Chase merely scoffed. "As if I wouldn't know what was going on on my own porch, Jack?"

Again, Jack relaxed a little bit, his head coming to rest on his lover's chest plate with a dull clank. "…fuck, my hand hurts," he eventually murmured.

Chase eyed said hand with utmost distaste. Colorful bruises were already blossoming upon the pale skin and the broken bones would need to be set soon if Jack wanted to be able to use that hand well again.

"It will be treated," Chase promised his consort. "For now, you may rest."

Jack's body had no problem with such an order. The stress and terror of nearly dying had taken their toll and passing out for a few hours seemed like a terribly good idea. His mind, however, was not quite ready to sleep. "What about Wuya?" he wondered.

Chase shifted his grip on the young man. "She will be easily dealt with," he assured. "She seems eager to tell me all about how you 'died.' I'll let her tell me and then catch her red-handed when I tell her you still live. Don't worry about the witch, Jack, I'll take care of her."

Jack breathed deeply and let his eyes fall shut, _trusting_ in Chase's words. "Okay…" was the last thing he said before drifting off into a blissful, dreamless sleep.

_**729. Indelible-**_

Chase watched with affected calm as Wuya came scrambling into the room, gasping with tears streaming down her face as she clamored for his attention.

"Chase!" she cried. "Chase! It's terrible, y-you have to come quick!"

Chase heroically resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What is it, Wuya?" he demanded of her. "What do you want this time?"

"I-it's Jack," the witch exclaimed, furiously wiping the tears from her eyes. "He…we were just outside, talking, and he—I told him he shouldn't be standing so close to the edge; you know how clumsy he is, but he didn't listen! He lost his balance and fell right off the mountain!"

"Oh, did he?" The warlord knew he should appear slightly more interested than that, but he couldn't muster the will to. It didn't matter, anyways: Wuya was far too caught up in her own performance to notice the lack of care.

"I tried to save him, Chase," she sobbed, "but without my magic, I just wasn't quick enough!" Dropping to her knees, she begged, "Please, forgive me!"

"Forgive you," Chase echoed. "For not saving him, or for trying to murder him in the first place?"

Wuya froze. "M-murder? No, no, I didn't murder him!"

"Of course you didn't," Chase agreed, "though not for your lack of trying." With a deft snap of his gloved fingers, he proved his point.

Jack obediently stepped out from behind the dragonlord's throne, visibly exhausted and shaken with splints on several of his fingers. The goth was looking considerably worse for wear, but to Wuya's utmost horror, he was quite obviously _alive._

Wuya looked at Jack, then at Chase, and back and forth once more. Her eyes wide with a mix of shock, dismay, and fright, the witch said not a word and _ran._

Chase, of course, was a predator. This woman had already crossed him by attempting the indelible act of injuring and attempting to kill his beloved consort and now, she tries to run from him…?

His natural hunter-killer instincts were triggered immediately.

Jack slumped into the quickly-abandoned throne, letting himself close his eyes again. It was alright, he didn't need to see the gore of the revenge: the sound of it was pleasant enough.

Jack happily fell asleep again listening to pained screams, bestial growls, the various squelches and spurts that came from tearing apart a body like tissue paper, and of course, the loud and clear sound of being _loved._

_**730. Knitting-**_

"What color do you want yours to be, Chase?"

Chase scoffed in utmost derision. "I don't _want_ one," he declared.

Jack whined in response. "Come on, Chase," he begged, "I don't have that many people to make for and I at least want to make one for you! You're the most important person in my life: you deserve one the most."

"I won't wear it," Chase pointed out.

"Then, just keep it as a decoration or something," Jack suggested. "Hang it on the wall, throw it to the kitties to play with, I don't care; just let me make you one. _Please…?_"

With a snort, Chase glared. "Fine," he surrendered. "Red."

About a month later, the everlord's first gift on Christmas day was a cheery red, hand-knitted sweater that he never wore in any of his following centuries of living.

He did, however, keep it in the back of his closet as a reminder that, though dork he may be, his Jack adored him endlessly.

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

**A/N: A WILD NEW CHAPTER APPEARS.**

**_Masque-_ Hey, guess what? I _still_ don't speak French and internet translators are only so good. If you do speak French and/or know it and I failed completely, kindly don't be a douchebag about it; I'd be happy to fix whatever doesn't sound right if you just let me know what I messed up. I've been told by others that the French isn't _too_ bad, just that the structure seemed a little off, but again; I don't speak it so I wouldn't know. If you've got corrections, drop me a PM or something. ;P**

**_Stripes-_ No comment.**

**_Veins-_ No comment.**

**_Tempest-_ No comment.**

**_Epigone-_ No comment.**

**_Flail-_ Jack's a dork. XD**

**_Quixotic-_ No comment.**

**_Precipice-_ No comment.**

**_Indelible-_ Continuation of _Precipice._**

**_Knitting-_ No comment.**

**Anyways...I guess I don't really have much to say about this chapter other than thanks for reading, sorry if the French is off, and I hope you enjoyed the read! :D**


	74. Chapter 74

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

_**731. Paper-**_

"This is stupid," Chase sneered, crumpling the plain, white sheet into a ball and tossing it aside. "I'm done."

Jack kept folding. "I thought Chase Young never surrendered," he said, making sure two edges lined up _just_ right.

Chase balked immediately. "Surrender?" he demanded. "I've done no such thing!"

"You gave up without even trying," Jack pointed out.

"Such frivolity isn't worth my effort," Chase said firmly. "There's no _point._"

Jack snorted. "There's no point to origami, either, but you spent two hours showing me how to make a dragon last week, anyway."

"Origami is art! You can't _possibly_ compare it to…to this nonsense!"

"Nonsense it may be," said Jack, finishing his folding and examining the finished project, "but you're gonna learn how to make one of these, like it or not."

And with that, Jack expertly tossed the paper airplane, watching it glide across the room and snickering as it crashed in the precise center of a previously sleeping, now startled and confused Diol's forehead.

_**732. Bedtime Story-**_

"Tell me a story," whined Jack as Chase climbed into bed beside him.

Chase rolled his eyes. "No," he said. "We've been over this."

"C'mooooooon…!" Jack begged. "Do it!"

Chase sighed. "Once upon a time, there was an annoying consort," he said. "He kept pestering his master to treat him like a two-year-old for reasons unknown and inexplicable. The End."

Jack frowned. "Now, I've got a story," he decided. "Once upon a time, there was a master who was a complete dick. Whenever his consort tried to get him to have fun, he would be as much of an ass as he could _possibly_ be. The consort hated his master. The End."

Chase frowned, too, even as he reached over to turn off the lights. "Once upon a time, there was a master who wished his consort wouldn't be so childish all the time. The consort's antics were occasionally irritating and the master hated _them,_ but he never hated the consort. The End."

From Jack, there was a silence before he tentatively made to snuggle up beside Chase. "Once upon a time, the consort didn't mean it," he admitted. "The End."

"Once upon a time, the master forgave the consort for his unnecessarily harsh words," Chase said, nuzzling against Jack. "He also indulged the silly request for a bedtime story. The End."

Jack laughed a little. "Once upon a time, the master totally copped out on the bedtime story, for the record. The End."

Chase smirked. "Once upon a time, the master didn't care in the slightest. The End."

And that time, Jack let it be.

_**733. Brother**_

"I'm not sorry," Chase said, his voice firm and unwavering as if he had no audience to fear reproach from.

It was true, in a sense: he was the only _physical_ presence in the room.

"I don't imagine you would be," Dashi said back, only a floating, semi-transparent reflection of what he had been centuries past. "You've had plenty of chances to change things if you really wanted. You haven't, so you must not see anything wrong with the way things are."

Chase frowned. "You were in my way," he went on. "I had no choice."

Dashi shook his head. "You had a choice," he corrected. "You made it and here we are. You don't have to explain yourself to me."

"Of course I don't," agreed Chase readily. "I am a lord; an immortal lord; an immortal _dragon_lord. I answer to no one."

"Then why are you trying to answer to me?"

Chase nearly opened his mouth to protest, but he stopped, recognizing the truth he heard in the question. "I'm not sorry for what I've done," he said again.

"But you're sorry for something," Dashi deduced.

Slowly, Chase nodded. Aside from the nod, there was nothing from him for a long, silent while. Eventually, he spoke. "I'm not sorry for _what_ passed between us," he explained. "I'm sorry for the _how._"

"What about it?" Dashi asked. "You gave me a good death; none of that cowardly in-my-sleep or using poison stuff."

Chase shook his head. "Never."

"Then, what bothers you about it?"

"…you deserved an explanation," Chase replied. "We were family—"

"We _are_ family, little brother," Dashi cut in.

Chase only sneered. "At the least," he continued, "I owed you…an explanation? A goodbye? A word or two."

Dashi grinned. "You were right the first time," he said. "You didn't owe me anything."

Chase looked at him.

"If you had tried to talk to me," the ghost explained, "I'd talk you out of turning Heylin. I'd point out all the things you would be giving up to serve Bean and otherwise use my awesome powers of big brother-persuasion," here Chase scoffed, "to convince you to stay Xiaolin and work things out. Where would you be, then?"

"Dead," Chase answered.

Dashi's grin broadened. "Precisely," he agreed, "and if you were dead, your life would've sucked. You'd have lived briefly as a mortal man, maybe leave the Xiaolin temple and settle down with a woman or maybe stay a monk your whole life. The only difference would be whether or not you make babies before dying and fading into obscurity."

Chase raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that the type of life you constantly preach, brother?"

Dashi shrugged. "Yes," he admitted, "but it's not the right life for everyone. Especially not for you. You live for the extraordinary, Chase: you crave it; crave to _be_ it. You always have." The apparition gave a somewhat dejected sigh. "Back when you first joined the temple, I thought that was a phase, just something you'd grow out of. I should've known better. You were never destined to settle for the ordinary."

Silently, Chase nodded in agreement: he had always known that.

Dashi continued to speak. "The life you're living now is the type of life you enjoy. It's what makes _you_ happy. Not what makes _me_ happy, but since when are you in this to please me?"

"Never," Chase smirked.

"Besides," Dashi pointed out, "if you'd stayed Xiaolin, you never would've been around to meet that utterly charming flower of a consort of yours."

From the adjacent room, having heard his title, Jack murmured incomprehensibly through a wicked hangover and bone-tired exhaustion, resulting from the heavy drinking of the New Year's celebration the prior evening and the copious carnal relations with his master, respectively.

All that could be heard through the wall was, "Fuck you…rubber bat…glittery sandpaper…"

Despite himself, Chase chuckled. "As of yet, my xin aí is the favorite of that which my immortality has obtained," he agreed.

"So, you see?" Dashi said. "You don't owe me anything. You're happy, right?"

"Yes," Chase decided. "I am."

"Then, who gives a fuck what I think?"

Chase grinned. "Not me, anymore," he declared. "Thank you for setting me straight, brother: I very nearly got sentimental, there."

Dashi waved him off. "No problem, I've helped you through worse. Which reminds me, I don't think Jack's ever heard about that little incident of yours with the Monkey Staff; you know, the one that's probably the reason you wouldn't let him attempt to duplicate it for your deal…"

Chase was on his feet and scowling in the blink of an eye. "Don't you _dare,_" he growled at the apparition of his sibling.

Dashi merely laughed.

**_734. Rubber Chicken-_**

"Jack Spicer, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!"

Jack, already in the process of leaving, turned on his heel and frowned almost apologetically. "Sorry, Kim, but I don't really see any reason to do that," he said.

"What?" exclaimed the female monk. "Why not?"

"He has already obtained the Wu, for one," Chase helpfully chimed in. Currently, the warlord stood on the sidelines of battle, having full confidence in his lover and minion to retrieve the mystical object for him.

"Yeah," agreed Jack, "and I'm still learning all this martial arts crap, so it'd be pretty stupid to fight you over something that's, as of this moment, mine." Jack paused in his words only long enough to slip the Shen Gong Wu (this time in the form of a gemstone, though that hardly mattered) into an inner pocket of his trench coat. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to comically decline."

Kimiko made an odd face. "Comically?" she wondered. "How do you comically decline something?"

Jack had obviously been waiting for this. Grinning, he removed something from his coat and declared, "With a rubber chicken!"

Chase rolled his eyes as Jack slapped Kimiko across the face with the floppy chicken, seeming not to notice the dumbfounded expressions and silence from both her and her fellow monks.

"I must apologize on behalf of my consort for that one," he practically sighed, even as Jack cheerily traipsed back to his side. "I'm afraid I was unable to talk him out of doing that."

"Well, come on," said Jack, "how else am I supposed to comically decline something? With a banana cream pie? That just makes me hungry!"

Chase sighed again. "You're terribly lucky you're a sexual dynamo, Spicer," the dragonlord informed. "Otherwise, I can't imagine _how_ I'd put up with this nonsense."

Jack's grin became a lascivious and lusty thing. "Like you hate it! You _know_ you love the rubber nose; don't deny it."

The monks observed yet another sigh from Chase before the Heylin men were abruptly gone from the battlefield. What was said next accurately summed up the situation.

"What…the…fuck."

**_735. Debauched-_**

It could almost be funny, Chase thought to himself.

He had lived for many, many centuries. He had seen it all: every cruel, wicked, corrupt, and licentious thing this world had to offer. Murder? Seen and done to death (pun not intended). Sex? Not even the seediest, filthiest perversion mankind had discovered could phase him in the slightest (although, this recent 'furry' craze was pushing it). Any conceivable combination of the two? Blasé in the extreme.

As an old man, though he may not have looked it, Chase had become quite set in his ways by now. He knew what he liked in the aforementioned fields and preferred to keep things that way.

Murder done for a specific reason, to avenge or revenge or even for the simple pleasure of killing was fine, while aimlessly violent crimes did not appeal to him. In sex, he was not picky in regards to gender, so long as he felt a genuine attraction to his partner and they were willing to let him be dominant. As for when the two areas crossed over, he enjoyed playing rough in bed, and as long as there was consent from both parties, the biting and growling and play-fighting could actually be quite the turn-on.

Either way, with his level of experience, there _shouldn't_ have been anything that could still surprise him.

And yet…

Chase had been wholly unprepared for Jack's reaction to his first kill. The warlord had _expected_ guilt and regret; perhaps for the youth to have lost his lunch and suffered a minor psychological breakdown over taking the life of another human being. It was what Chase had _prepared_ for, and the moment Jack had stained his hands with first blood, he had stood expectantly nearby with open arms, waiting for his consort to cling to him for comfort.

Jack clung to him alright, but not for comfort.

Not knowing he could still be so startled in such matters, it was all the more surprising for Chase to be tackled to the ground by a ravenously horny Jack, smelling of blood and pheromones as he manhandled his everlord.

Really, the hair-pulling and scratching were not new things, and neither was the tearing of clothes and snarling of perfectly filthy, sexual things. Consequently being dominated, by Jack Spicer, no less, _was_ new. That it had happened at all was quite unexpected, as were the debauched feelings of being used and made dirty.

It was a…_good_ dirty, though. Chase at last decided he liked the amusing turnabout: the evil overlord corrupted by his apprentice!

He spared a glance to Jack, now docile as a lamb in sleep and snoring on his master's stomach.

Chase knew by now what he liked, and thinking of Jack, fiery passion in his eyes and a desperate need to rut telegraphed by his body, he knew that he liked that.

Now, all he needed to do was provoke Jack to such wildness again. Considering the ease with which he had turned to it the first time, Chase imagined it wouldn't be overly difficult.

**_736. Salamander-_**

Chase was scowling. He knew he was scowling, too, but really, what else was an immortal warlord meant to do in the face of…_this?_

"Oh, c'mon," Jack was begging of him, "look how cute he is!"

With a squelching noise as he peeled the wet creature off of his leather coat, Jack presented the seven-foot-long amphibian to Chase. Its wrinkly orange skin glinted due to its moistness and its tiny eyes peered out from its large head, likely seeing next to nothing, as the eyesight of this particular breed of salamander (the giant Chinese salamander, to be precise) was quite poor.

"Lookit," exclaimed Jack, "it's like a really dumb dragon!"

The salamander, for whatever reason, chose this moment to open its mouth in a dopey-looking grin, causing a similar one to appear on Jack's face.

"It's a LOLdragon," he happily declared. He held the animal up higher, bouncing it somewhat comically as he impersonated what he imagined its voice might sound like. "O hai, thar, I are salamanderz, FTW!"

Chase could not help his facepalm.

Sure enough, though, the salamander eventually ended up with his very own pond in the palace.

**_737. Jealousy-_**

Jack sighed, luxuriating in the sensation of strong fingers rubbing his scalp.

"I'll kill you," Chase said suddenly.

Jack hummed in assent and nestled closer to his lover as Chase began to toy with his hair.

"I'm not joking," the warlord assured. "I will kill you. You know that."

"'course I do," Jack replied. There was a smile on his face, soft and accepting as he said it. "You're not the type to share."

"If you touch _anyone_ else," Chase continued firmly, "man, woman, or genderless it-thing…I will kill you."

Jack did not react to this, only kept smiling and enjoying the pleasant, affectionate attention his overlord's hands were giving him.

Even as Chase's fingertips skated over the youth's back and aimlessly twirled his hair, he spoke. "I would kill whomever you touched first, of course," he said. "Their death would be horribly gruesome and painful. I could make it last for days. You would watch every minute of it."

Jack merely nodded.

"Then," Chase went on, "I would kill you. I would have to start with your hands, naturally. I would break every bone in them for having the audacity to touch another."

Even as a man who made his living and his passion by means of his hands, Jack did not flinch at such a threat. He remained complacent snugged up against Chase's side and listened.

Chase bent slightly to nuzzle at his consort. "I would probably have to scar that pretty face of yours, too; as punishment for using it to attract someone else."

"Makes sense," Jack offered agreeably.

"And your body, now that I think of it," Chase added. "I would have to hurt you terribly. By the time I finally finished with you, you would be begging me for death in place of life as a crippled, mutilated freak of nature."

"Would you give it to me?" Jack wondered.

"Death?"

The goth nodded.

"Yes," Chase admitted. "After your punishment, I would grant you death: a quick and painless one. A sharp snap of your neck would do it."

Jack smiled. "You don't offer the mercy of death to just anyone," he pointed out.

"Not to those that have wronged me, no," Chase agreed. "And yet, for you…"

"I'm not worried, then," Jack said in confidence.

Chase raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"That you would give me a quick death if I begged you for it says something; about how you feel for me," the genius concluded. He reached up just so, pecking his everlord on the cheek. "Of course," he elaborated, "there's the fact that I'd never cheat on you in the first place. I'm yours: you know that."

A soft growl of dominance rose from the back of Chase's throat. "Yes," he said, imaginary jealousy from hypothetical home wreckers easing away at such perfect words from Jack. "Mine. I know that."

**_738. Hazard-_**

"Spicer…don't move."

Obediently, Jack froze in mid-step. "Why?" he started to ask. "What's—"

"Quiet," Chase ordered, approaching and circling his minion almost warily.

Jack became sufficiently creeped out after only two minutes of this scrutiny. "Um…Chase…? Are you…okay?"

Golden eyes narrowed at him, and for a few moments, Chase said nothing. "There is something wrong with you," he eventually deduced. "You look exhausted. Your aura is even weaker than usual."

At this, Jack made a face and snorted. "Why do you have to freak me out like that?" he demanded. "So, I didn't sleep well. Big deal! You act like I'm in mortal danger or something."

Chase moved closer, still tense as he analyzed Jack. "No…you slept well last night. We share a bed, and I am a light sleeper. Had you tossed and turned, I would've known it." Closer still, and he caught Jack's chin in his hand, peering deeply into the youth's eyes.

"Personal space," meeped Jack.

"Your eyes are haunted," Chase went on, irritation filtering into his voice, "like one who has seen something they shouldn't have or a victim of-…"

Jack yowled, entirely startled as Chase's leg hooked behind his knee and yanked, knocking him off balance and off his feet to land hard on his rear end.

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed. "What was _that_ for? Chase, you _really_ gotta not—what are you doing?"

Chase was silent as he wrested one of Jack's heavy boots off, tossing it carelessly aside to land with a 'thunk.' The sock beneath it, too, was peeled off and the warlord began to inspect his consort's bare foot in earnest.

Jack stared blankly as this occurred. "Okay," he began, "seriously, Chase, are you alright? 'cause you're acting really messed up…"

Abruptly, Chase inhaled sharply, a startled expression followed seamlessly by an angry one. "Just as I suspected," he growled. "A pishtaco."

"…I'm not hungry?"

Chase rolled his eyes. "Not a _fish_ taco, Jack," he corrected, "a _pish_taco. It is a creature of Peruvian lore and seems to have gotten its hooks into you."

Jack blinked in surprise. "What's it do?" he asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"It's a species of vampire," Chase explained, holding Jack's leg so he, too, could see the bottom of his foot; littered with tiny scars and bite-marks, some old and at least one _very_ fresh. "It siphons blood and fat through the soles of mortals' feet while they sleep. These marks, along with your faded demeanor this morning, is proof enough that you have been a pishtaco's victim for a number of years, at least."

"Holy hell," Jack breathed. "And _how_ did I not notice those?"

"The same way most vampire-like creatures keep their prey from noticing until it's too late," Chase surmised. "Its saliva must have some sort of numbing agent to keep you from noticing the pain of the bite immediately. By the time it wears off, the pain is mild and can just be mistaken for sore feet, and you _do_ engage in quite a lot of walking and running to make it seem plausible to you."

"Well…shit," Jack declared. "What should I do?"

Chase stood and helped his minion to stand, as well. "Leave it to me," he suggested. "There are wards that can be put up, spells that can be cast… This pishtaco will find a nasty surprise waiting for him the next time he comes to feed off of you, either way."

Jack bent to collect his boot and sock, even as he pouted quite fiercely. "I can't believe I've been a dumb vampire's booty call for _years,_" he said. "All this time, it's been stealing fat and blood…ya' think that's why I'm hungry and weak all the time?"

Chase nodded. "It's quite possible. You have a naturally high metabolism and a naturally weak body, but I would be willing to bet it won't be quite so pronounced when the pishtaco is banished from you. I imagine you'll notice an immediate improvement in your ability and stamina when we train. As for being a 'booty call,' however…it could have been worse."

"What do you mean?"

Chase smirked. "The pishtaco is also known to feed upon its victim's semen," he informed, delighting in Jack's blanched, horrified face. "For whatever reason, you got lucky and this one decided it was content with only your blood and fat reserves."

Jack took a quiet moment to process this near-miss for his reproductive setup. "…I'm kind of disappointed it did," he said eventually. "If it was taking chunks out of my balls, _one_ of us would've noticed the damn thing sooner."

Chase threw his head back and laughed, even as he went in search of spells to banish Peruvian fluid-suckers.

_**739. Velcro-**_

"Nails on a chalkboard," Jack began.

"The squeaking noise when you rub plastic wrap," Chase countered.

"That's pretty bad," the goth conceded, "but I can one-up it: that scratchy, grating rip when you peel Velcro apart."

Chase frowned. "That's nothing compared to the scream of a Tasmanian devil," he decided.

Jack snapped his fingers. "While we're on the subject of screams, banshees. I didn't believe it until we actually had to tangle with that one last week, but _damn._"

"No," Chase said, "not even a banshee can compare to the shrillness of _your_ screaming. Unless you're in true danger, _that_ is the most annoying sound in the world."

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed. "I'm not _that_ bad. What about that old commercial for that toy, Baby Laughs-a-Lot?"

Chase appeared to consider this, eventually nodding. "Much more irritating," he conceded, "although the _most_ upsetting noise I can think of would be what's heard on the Backwards Music Station."

Jack shuddered. "That shit is messed up," he agreed. "But now that I _really_ think about it, we missed the most obvious, irritating, upsetting, and unpleasant sound in the world."

Chase grinned. "I think you're right…"

At the same time, they declared, "Wuya's voice," before succumbing to amused giggles at the Heylin witch's expense.

_**740. Chameleon-**_

Chase decided that a young, eccentric and exciting lover was a wonderful, enriching experience—_most_ of the time.

Now, as Jack glared heatedly at the chameleon in its glass exhibit and shouted such accusatory tidbits as, "Impostor! You've unfairly overshadowed the genius of the octopus, you no-talent faker!" at the unaware creature and attracted strange looks from the other visitors to the reptile house, he decided that having Jack as his consort was also very embarrassing.

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

**A/N: **

**_Paper-_ Random nonsense. XD**

**_Bedtime Story-_ More random nonsense, but with fluff thrown in!**

**_Brother_ This is actually based directly off of the Diary Universe from the Diary Project (Spicer Monologues and Chase Young's Diary). This is set after the very last entry and is kinda just a playing around in the sandbox. More of these may or may not result, but there has been talk of a Diary Universe-centric Anthology project, so... Also, this serves to pimp said Diary Universe and hopefully encourage anybody who has yet to get a LiveJournal account to go and do so by giving a teeny taste of what's being missed. ;P**

**_Rubber Chicken-_ Inspired by a conversation with Matt, in which the two of us planned this whole thing out. We're awesome. XD**

**_Debauched-_ No comment.**

**_Salamander-_ No comment. XD**

**_Jealousy-_ I like to write Chack with a fluff overtone every now and again, but it's important to keep in mind that Chase is horrendously evil: he still obviously loves Jack, but those evil flavorings cannot be ignored. ...I think it managed to come out fluffy, anyway. ^^;**

**_Hazard-_ These things exist, seriously. As Silvarbelle said when I described it to her as 'a vampire that drinks semen,' "So, it's Edward Cullen, then?" :D**

**_Velcro-_ I'm sure there's a list somewhere of the most awful noises in the world, but this is just an abridged version. Look them up (specifically the Backwards Music Station) at your own risk.**

**_Chameleon-_ Aaaaaand, full circle back to random nonsense. Although, this is for real, I've gotten into arguments with people over the fact that octopi are the real borderline-magic disguisers and chameleons have an exaggerated reputation. XD**

**Anyways, there you have it: a brand new chapter of Anthology! I hope you guys liked it! :D**


	75. Chapter 75

**Anthology of Love**

**By: CrystallicSky**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.**

**Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no **_**actual**_** sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.**

**Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.**

...

_**741. Quiet-**_

Chase looked up as Jack stopped right before him, holding out a small slip of paper. He took it and began to examine the thing. "What is this?" he demanded to know.

"I was reading online about this book of romantic coupons," Jack said matter-of-factly. "I wanted to try it."

Chase narrowed his eyes at the text printed on the paper he'd been given. "A 'Shut the Fuck Up' coupon?"

"I think we need it," Jack explained, "but in order to avoid abuse of the coupon, I'm going to lay down some ground rules."

"Oh, really?"

Jack nodded. "This coupon may only be used once every ten years," he said. "There is no such thing as rollover minutes on this: if I don't use it in ten years, I lose it. However, when I do use it, you are obligated to be quiet and stop correcting, making fun of, or otherwise being a jerk to me. As compensation for having to abide by these rules, you are allowed one such coupon, as well. The same rules apply, so use it wisely."

Chase raised an eyebrow, both at the idea of the coupon itself and the formal tone with which his consort was speaking. "I propose that this coupon system is inherently inequitable," he said eventually, mimicking the formality.

"How so?" wondered Jack.

"Your need for this coupon is far less than mine," Chase pointed out. "In order to balance it out, I should be allotted a greater amount of coupons than you."

Jack was silent for a long moment. Then, an identical slip of paper was removed from his jacket and handed over to his master. "I'm cashing mine in now," he said. "Shut the fuck up."

Chase took it and tore it in half, ensuring it could not be used again. Nonetheless, he smirked with tightly closed lips and said not a word as Jack went storming out of the room in a huff.

Thankfully, he was able to resist the urge to laugh until Jack was well out of earshot.

_**742. Acoustic- **_

"What are you doing, _now?_"

"Stuff," Jack replied. "Go 'way."

"What _kind_ of stuff, Spicer?" Chase insisted.

Jack groaned. "Cool stuff, Chase," he said, sounding very much like an affronted teenager—which he technically was, but after 236 years of life, one lost the right to behave as such. "GTFO, already."

Chase raised an eyebrow. "You're frustrated," he observed.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Jack exclaimed, tossing the guitar in his hands to the floor. "What was your first clue?"

"Well, for one, you never speak to me like that unless you're irritated enough to forget your self-preservation instincts," Chase said. "That, and you just broke a guitar on the floor."

Jack huffed. "It's a jerk," he declared. "I hate it."

"Spicer, it's inanimate. It's incapable of being a 'jerk.'"

"Well, it is anyway."

Chase sighed. "What are you having trouble with?"

Jack pouted. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll figure it out eventually. It might take a couple guitars and a _lot_ of curse words, but mark my words: I will learn to play that fucker." Red eyes glanced down to the guitar at his feet, the neck cracked and a few strings snapped from the forced meeting with the marble floor. "Well," Jack amended, "a fucker _like_ it, in any case."

Chase coolly observed the electric instrument that was surely a result of Jack's first attempt to stave off the boredom of immortality. "Perhaps you should start with an acoustic guitar," he suggested. "Work your way up."

"A grandpa-guitar?" Jack seemed offended by the very notion. "No way in hell! Grandpa-guitars are for pussies! _So_ not metal."

Despite the indignant reply, Chase smirked. "Good luck with the electric, then," he offered his consort, turning on his heel to leave. "If you ever want to learn how to play the oboe without learning the basics of the flute, come find me. I'm an expert."

And with that, the warlord was gone, leaving Jack to ponder exactly what his master had meant by that.

**_743. Pillow-_**

"Remind me again why we've returned to this hovel of yours, Spicer."

Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the comment. Only a man who lived in a palace carved into a mountain would refer to such a lavish mansion as a 'hovel.' "I need to pick up some stuff," he said, entirely uninsulted. "You want me to live with you, right?"

"Where _else_ could I train you, protect you, and fuck the living daylights out of you so conveniently?" Chase demanded to know.

"Well, then I need some stuff," Jack declared. "Your place is nice and all, but it lacks certain…amenities."

Chase quirked an eyebrow. "Like what?" His abode could easily service any need imaginable, and the implication otherwise was irritating. He would have to work on Spicer's manners first and foremost now that the young man was his to do with as he wished.

"Homey touches," Jack elaborated, "personal effects. If I'm gonna _live_ with you, I want to have some of my stuff with me so it doesn't feel like I'm staying at a hotel. You want me to be comfortable with you, right?"

"I am your overlord," Chase said as if it explained everything, and in a way, it did.

"Then, let me grab a few things and we can go, alright?"

Chase considered it for a moment. "Make it quick," he said imperiously, and Jack bent down ever so slightly to kiss him on the cheek.

"Thanks, Chase," he said, and disappeared into his bedroom.

The warlord remained in the hallway for several minutes, observing the plush carpet and some of the more interesting paintings hung along the walls, but it was hardly enough to occupy him for even that much. Bored, he entered what he was already thinking of as his consort's _old_ room and looked around.

Predatory golden eyes scanned the living space, finding it to be exactly what one would expect for the room of a goth teenager. Black and red everywhere, of course, but a bit classier than predicted due to the splash of white here and there to counteract the other colors. That, and the quality of the furniture seemed to suggest high-end living: a desk made of the finest wood, a bed with the finest silks and down pillows, a flat-screen television mounted on the wall; no doubt the finest model on the market.

Chase could almost mistake this for a refined billionaire's room were it not for the mess.

Jack was still a teenager. Nineteen, only _barely_ still a teen, but a teen nonetheless, and his living space reflected that. Clothes, books, movies, and completely random objects were scattered about every available space, piled atop one another where there _was_ no space. Chase would be hard-pressed to navigate the area without stepping on something.

"I had thought to work on your manners, first," he said to Jack, who he could hear rustling about in the adjacent bathroom. "A look around, however, tells me cleanliness will be first on the agenda."

"Oh, don't get your panties in a knot," Jack groused, making noises that suggested his was packing away some towels. "You and I both know I don't really _live_ in here. This is just storage: my _real_ room is downstairs, and you've seen how tidy I am down there."

And this, Chase conceded, was true. Jack was very meticulous about the neatness of his laboratory, mainly for safety reasons, but likely also because it bothered him to work around a mess.

"Alright," he amended, "then I'll have to teach you to keep that tidiness up in _both_ of your living spaces."

"Both?" Jack echoed from the bathroom, and Chase could hear the opening of a cabinet. He imagined his consort would be retrieving sunscreen and toothpaste and other such things. "I'm gonna have two rooms at your place?"

Chase took a step forward into the room, gracefully avoiding a book haphazardly dropped while open but ending up standing on discarded t-shirt. "The same as you do here," he replied, sneering ever so slightly at the clutter blocking his way. "A lab to work in and a bedroom to sleep in."

"Among other things," Jack added for him.

"Yes, among other things," Chase openly agreed. "Honestly, Spicer, _when_ was the last time you cleaned in here?"

"Never," said Jack. "When it gets too crazy for me to ignore, I make a bot clean it. More efficient than me tripping over shit and cursing loudly for upwards of four hours, y'know?"

Chase managed another step through the miscellany of things, though he had to toe a bottle of pink nail polish out of the way (its presence alone was a bit troubling). "You shouldn't allow it to get 'crazy' in the first place," he declared. "Really, how are you ever going to—…Spicer."

"What?" Jack called, still in the bathroom.

"Would you care to come out here and tell me what _that_ is?"

The tight, controlled hiss of his master's voice was enough to tell Jack that he had best obey immediately. Exiting the bathroom, his bag of personal effects slung over his shoulder, he spoke. "What's what? What are you—oh, you found the Chase-pillow."

Beneath the bed, where the warlord's eyes seemed to be glaring burning holes, there lay a full-body pillow emblazoned with his likeness.

"Explain yourself," Chase demanded in what could almost be called a growl.

Jack, far less embarrassed about the item than he should be, only shrugged. "You've seen those kinds of pillows before. They're popular in Japan, where they put pictures of scantily-clad anime girls on 'em. I think somebody even married their pillow, once. Basically, I saw those and figured, 'why not'?"

"That is the most vile thing I have ever seen in my life," Chase said, affronted. "You will dispose of it immediately, or I shall do it for you."

Jack frowned. "Oh, come on, it's not _that_ bad."

"It's _disgusting,_" Chase snapped, "not to mention unsanitary. I'd be willing to bet it's covered in enough genetic material to ensure you'd be a father in nine months' time should anything female come near it."

Here, Jack scowled. "Oh, so, what, you just _assume_ I was fucking it?" he demanded. "I couldn't have just been cuddling it or something, I was being nasty with it. That's _all_I could've been doing with it. Is that what you're saying?"

Chase gave his new consort a very pointed stare.

"…alright, but _jeez!_Give me the benefit of the doubt, at least!"

Chase watched, only vaguely pleased as Jack snapped his fingers and a robot zoomed into the room, then ordered to take the offending pillow and burn it.

"Happy?" Jack asked, already beginning to collect things from his room again.

"Somewhat," Chase said, folding his arms over his chest. "I still don't understand why you had it in the first place."

"Really? You don't?" Jack put down his bag of belongings and made his way over to Chase. "You don't get that I've been crushing on you since I hit puberty? You don't get that I've been in love with you since a year after that? You don't get that I was a virgin until two weeks ago? You don't get that I was so damn crazy about you, I needed a stand-in to keep from dry-humping your leg in the middle of a Showdown? That's what you don't get?"

Chase frowned, considering this. Jack's logic certainly made sense, and it didn't hurt that everything he was saying stroked the dragonlord's ego like nobody's business. "Never again," he said eventually. "If I catch you trying to replace me with a 'stand-in' even once, you _will _be punished."

Jack only snorted. "Why would I ever need a stand-in again?" he asked, bending down to kiss Chase. "I've got the real deal, now. I'm not settling for less, ever."

Chase grinned, pleased. "See to it that you don't."

**_744. Call-_**

Jack had the distinct impression that he would rather blow his brains out than remain here a moment longer.

'Here' just happened to be the abode of his aunt and uncle. His delightful cousin, Megan was having her 'sweet sixteen' and for whatever reason, it had been _insisted_ that he show up and have a good time.

Showing up, he had most certainly done. Having even the _semblance_ of a good time was decidedly less accomplished.

But really, how in the hell was he expected to _enjoy_ himself? Pink and cutesy girl things everywhere, surrounded by a bevy of teenagers as the only male _and_the only adult around?

_Guh._

"Jaaaaaaaack," one of said teenagers cooed at him, Danielle, he thought he remembered, "c'mon over here! We're playing Spin the Bottle…"

And there, the source of his ultimate dismay at the setting: surrounded by adolescent girls who thought of him as a 'cute older guy' and 'sooooooo hawt'!

"No, thanks," Jack said, forcing back the worst of a sneer.

"Awwww, but why not…?" whined another girl. This one looked like an Amy, but Jack was pretty sure her name was Samantha. "Don't be such a stick in the mud! You don't want to ruin Megan's party, do you?"

Megan, as well as Jack, rolled her eyes. It was clear the gesture had some root in genetics.

"I don't think she cares much," Jack assured. "Y'know what would _really_ ruin her party? Having to make out with her cousin. I'll sit this one out, ladies."

At that, the girls tittered amongst themselves (Megan not included). Jack could hear a few whispered snippets from where he was. Most prominently, 'so funny,' 'he's shy,' and 'what a cutie.'

_**Guh.**_

If Jack had _ever _needed to be rescued like a damsel in distress, now was most definitely the time.

As if on cue, his pocket began to ring.

Feeling the eyes of the girls on him, he sent them a glance. "I have to take this," he said, already answering his phone. "Hello?"

_"Hello, my delicious little sex-slave."_

Jack, naturally, recognized the voice on the other end of the line. Keeping his audience in mind, his face and tone remained neutral. "Hey, Chase," he said. "What's up?"

_"Nothing much,"_ the warlord on the other end of the line returned casually. _"I **am** fantastically horny, though."_

"Oh, yeah?"

_"Mmm. Imagine your poor master's dismay at being so in the mood to fuck and not a single consort in sight!"_

"You have more than one?" Jack demanded.

_"Only one,"_ Chase promised. _"It's terribly inconvenient, though. What am I meant to do when that one isn't around?"_

"Wait?" Jack suggested.

There was laughter. _"I'm your lord, Spicer,"_ Chase reminded. _"I do not wait on you. You wait on me."_

"Well, I'm a little busy right now. I think you'll have to."

_"You think so?"_ There was something wicked in Chase's tone. _"I say otherwise."_

Jack sighed. "Look," he said, "I'm at Megan's party. I _told_ you about it. I don't have time to—"

_"I'm going to fuck you silly, Jack."_

Instinctively, red eyes flickered over to the gaggle of girls watching him with thinly veiled interest, as if they could have heard what Chase had just said. They couldn't, of course.

"Oh, are you, now?"

_"Of course I am,"_ said Chase. _"I'm going to take you like the dirty slut you are and you're going to **beg** for it."_

Jack suppressed a shiver. "And what makes you think I'll go along with that?"

_"What makes **you** think any different?"_ the warlord challenged. _"You can't resist me. Not even you can delude yourself into believing if I asked you, right now, to drop to your knees and suck me off regardless of who was looking that you wouldn't do it."_

This time the shiver _did_ come. Already, he knew it to be a futile effort to ask Chase to leave him alone and considering what he was interrupting…well, he only had one thing to say in response.

"So, start talking."

The devilish smirk on the other end of the phone was practically palpable.

_"I'm going to strip you fully in a minute flat,"_ Chase declared. _"Your clothing will be shredded, of course, but I could care less."_

"You'll have to reimburse me, then," said Jack.

Chase snorted. _"I'll do no such thing. Why would I buy you **more** clothes? You're only going to **wear** them."_

"You've got a point," Jack conceded. "Then what?"

_"I'm going to collar you,"_ Chase practically purred. _"I'm going to leash you to the headboard and put you on hands and knees like a **dog.**"_

"Dogs are pretty noisy," the goth pointed out.

_"Just as you will be,"_ Chase concurred. _"As soon as I touch you, I'll have you howling my name. I'll make you shriek such filthy obscenities that even the most weathered of sailors would blush like Catholic schoolgirls. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be **mute** from all the screaming—that is, if you don't simply pass out before I had my fill of you."_

Jack couldn't help his smirk. "You think it'll take that much of a toll on me?"

Chase chuckled, low and smoky across the phone line. _"Spicer,"_ he said, _"you'll be lucky if you don't slip into a coma once I'm satisfied. I can't guarantee you'll ever walk again, either."_

Jack laughed. "Granny's wheelchair is still around somewhere, isn't it? I can use that. Not like she needs it anymore."

_"Then, I won't hold back even a little."_

"Not at all?"

_"Why on earth would I want to?"_ Chase demanded. _"You like it rough, Jack. I **know** you do."_

"Maybe," Jack allowed, "but that still doesn't tell me what you want."

_"What I want…? That should be obvious."_

"Spell it out for me, Chase."

_"If you insist,"_ the warlord acquiesced. _"I want to touch every last inch of you. I want to brand myself all over your deathly white skin. I want to **ruin** you for other partners."_

"You've already done _that,_" reminded Jack. "Let's get to the point, here."

_"If you must know, I want to dominate you completely. I'm going to hold you down and **take** you, whether you want it or not."_

"Oh, I will."

_"I **know** you will,"_ Chase practically groaned. _"Why do you think it turns me on so much? You'll always be willing for me, Jack: you will **never** say no."_

"You're right. I can't say no to you." The way Jack said it was playful, friendly instead of lusty. After all, he still had an audience.

_"That's why I'm going to fuck you mercilessly,"_ said Chase. _"Considering my current…passion, I'd call it a miracle if we only went through six bedspreads…and three beds."_

"You really don't take care of your things, do you?" teased Jack.

_"Perhaps not, but I take **excellent** care of my toys. I may see several pieces of furniture destroyed with my ferocity, but I would **never** injure you, my Spicer. If I broke you, how could I ever play with you again…?"_

Jack grinned. "That sounds about right, but for some reason, I can't see you as the gentle type right now."

_"Far from gentle,"_ Chase agreed. _"You may very well loathe me before I finish with you. I fully intend to make you absolutely mad with need. I'm so eager to have you wild for me that I just might bring you to the very brink and **leave** you there for **hours** until you've been reduced to blind desire and the only words on your lips are my name and 'please.'"_

A quick, almost furtive glance at the teenage girls. Staying here any longer…with the way _Chase_ was talking…it could get risky.

"Sounds like fun," he said, trying desperately and just barely succeeding in keeping the hunger out of his voice. "When can we make it happen?"

Chase scoffed. _"I've already gotten started,"_ he said on what sounded like a moan. _"Where are **you?**"_

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

_"Do make it ten, Jack,"_ the overlord suggested. _"If I get any harder, I might very well injure myself."_

There was an audible click as Jack's phone snapped shut and was shoved back into his pocket.

"Sorry, girls," he said apologetically, "I've gotta split. Something just came up."

Even as the majority of the girls groaned in disappointment, watching the young man leave, Megan rolled her eyes again.

"I'll just bet something 'came up,'" she said under her breath, quiet enough that none of her friends heard her.

It was bad enough they all _somehow _thought he was attractive. She really didn't want to find out how much worse it would be if they found out he'd just had phone-sex with his boyfriend right in front of them.

Guys were absolutely disgusting.

**_745. Donkey Punch-_**

"Chase…?"

"Hm?"

"You're not…kinky, are you?"

Chase blinked. "Quite kinky," he said. "Why do you ask?"

Jack looked almost nervous. "Well…how kinky are we talking?"

"On what scale should I answer you?"

"From one to 'What is this I don't even.'"

The warlord honestly considered it. "I would rate my kinkiness roughly around, 'What are you doing, I don't think—mmmm, oh god, yes, do _that._'" He stared at his consort. "Again, Spicer, why do you ask?"

Jack tried to nonchalantly shrug. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Well…you know I'm just about up for anything with you. But, uh…recently, I've been forced into the realization that…my limits _do_ exist, and—"

"Is this about that video with the lesbians and the cup?" Chase demanded. "I _forbade _you from ever watching that again in my palace, Jack, and if you disobeyed me—"

"No, no, no," Jack assured, shaking his head. "That's a whole 'nother can of worms I don't want to get into. Not what I'm talking about but it's…kind of internet-related."

"Then what?" Chase asked. "The internet is a cesspool of sex and filth. Asking me to guess would get us nowhere."

Jack sighed. "You don't like to…get rough, do you?"

The warlord tilted his head to one side. "Of course I do," he replied. "You've been on the receiving end of my roughness quite a few times, Spicer."

Jack shook his head. "Not like _that,_" he denied. "Not, like, biting and scratching and the stuff you usually do. I meant more like…hitting."

Chase stiffened. "Hitting?"

"Yeah," Jack elaborated. "Like…you don't get a kick out of smacking people around in bed…right?"

"Spousal abuse, you mean?" Chase sneered, disgusted by the idea and not bothering to hide it. "No, I most certainly do _not_ enjoy that. The purpose of sex is pleasure, not pain."

"But…you hurt me sometimes when we're…y'know?"

"Because _slight_ pain can _enhance_ pleasure," Chase pointed out. "I may occasionally grip you a bit too firmly, suck on your neck a little too hard, or use a tad more force than I need to, but I've never _hit_ you. I _will _never hit you. That is assault, Spicer, not 'getting rough.'"

Jack seemed to relax at his master's declaration. "That's a relief," he said. "'cause I've seen some videos… Have you ever heard of a 'donkey punch'?"

Chase frowned. "Yes."

"Well, that was what I saw. My only thought was that I would never want anybody to do that to me ever."

"_Why _do you keep looking up porn on the internet?" Chase demanded. "It's disgusting and it clearly disturbs you."

Jack half-blushed and looked away. "Some of it's hot," he muttered.

Chase couldn't resist bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of his nose or the long-suffering sigh that escaped his lips.

**_746. Resting-_**

Jack flopped backwards onto the massive, fluffy pillow, a satisfied sigh coming out of him in a whoosh. "Good _god,_you're awesome."

Beside him, Chase grinned through a particularly nice afterglow. "You weren't too shabby yourself, Jack."

"I'll have you know," the goth said imperiously, "that of the many things I'm amazing at, sex is one of them. I practice constantly."

"I hope for your sake that you haven't had many teachers," Chase warned.

Jack scoffed. "Why would I need a bunch of teachers? My mentor is the best there is."

Pleased, Chase smirked. "Caught your breath yet, Spicer?" he inquired.

Consideringly, Jack nodded. "Just about, I'd say. Why?"

Chase pounced. "It's time for another 'lesson'…"

**_747. Size-_**

"Are you ready, Spicer?"

"Oh, _god,_yeah, I am. Let's do this, already, before I wake up and realize this was just a dream."

"This is no dream, Jack, I assure you."

"Then, prove i—…_damn._"

"Awestruck?"

"You could say that. I have _never_ seen one like that before."

"I don't doubt that. Not too many men these days are uncircumcised, but I assure you it works the same."

"I'm sure it does. That doesn't bother me. I was more looking at the size of it."

"You aren't scared of it, are you?"

"If it were another inch, I might be. _How _in the hell are you…?"

"Handsome, powerful, well-endowed…I've always been cursed so; since birth, really."

"Blessed, more like. By the God of Gigantic Penises."

"I'd hardly call it _gigantic._"

"Well, follow my logic for a second here: you were born fifteen-hundred years ago. People were a lot smaller back then, in more ways than one."

"Your point, Spicer?"

"Back in your day, a guy was huge if he was six inches down there and people too much over five feet were giants."

"Ask what you really want to ask me, Jack."

"Be straight with me: were you gawked at as a freakshow or worshiped like a god?"

There was a laugh.

"A little bit of both, if you must know. Now, considering the situation, I'd say the _last _thing for me to be with you is 'straight.' Are we done discussing my genital situation?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'm still not sure that's gonna _fit_ anywhere, but we can give it a try."

"Spicer, I can promise you that it can and _will_ fit several somewheres, and we're going to attempt them all tonight."

A soft meep. "Be gentle…"

"We'll see."

**_748. Cheat-_**

Chase snarled like a hellbeast and flung the controller away from him. It hit the wall not _entirely_ hard enough to break it, but close. "I refuse to play this," he proclaimed loudly. "This game _cheats!_"

Jack snorted from beside him. The TV screen in front of the both of them was still flashing with the words, 'PLAYER 2 WINS.' "Suuuuuuuuuuuuuure it does," he said in a tone several degrees away from placating and closer to condescending.

Naturally, this did not much please his overlord, who petulantly folded his arms across his chest with a growl.

Chase Young was in full-on pout-mode.

Realizing this, Jack leaned over and kissed his cheek as sweetly as he could manage.

Chase accepted the kiss with no more than a grunt, but it was obvious enough that he was no longer _quite_ so irritated.

Taking this as his cue, the goth took his sweetness even further and snuggled up against Chase so that they were comfortably pressed together.

Chase was quiet for a moment. Then, "...Very well," he said imperiously. "I have decided that, regardless of your cheating game, I shall not destroy you at this time."

Jack grinned. "Good," he said, "I can't give you a victory blowjob after the next game if I'm destroyed."

And again, Chase stiffened. "…I have mixed feelings about that statement," he admitted.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What for? Whether I win or lose, it's you who'll be getting the blowjob. What's to be upset about?"

"What else? The implication that you'll _win._"

Jack laughed. "Yeah, well, we don't _have_ to play again if you wanna chicken out."

Chase balked immediately. "_Chicken?_" he demanded. "_Excuse _me?"

Jack was abruptly struck by the beauty of his master in fury. "Y'know," he said sincerely, "you are ridiculously pretty. You're even more ridiculously pretty when you're mad. Your eyes glow, they narrow, and that _mouth_ of yours... Talk about sex personified."

Immediately, Chase's frown deepened. "You're trying to distract me. It won't work."

His consort only shrugged. "Nah, I'm just telling it like it is. It's a good thing you're so pretty, 'cause otherwise, the chickening out might be a turn-off for me."

And there was Chase's ire again as he snarled hideously. "I will _destroy_ you, Spicer!"

Jack offered a challenging smirk as Chase retrieved his controller. "I'll believe it when I see it," he said. "In the meantime, prepare to eat Izuna Drop!"

**_749. Dancing Bear-_**

"…and he's promised us quite a show: a thousand dancing bears."

Jack's eyes were wide. "Dude," he said. "That is _way _too many dancing bears."

Chase merely shrugged. "It should be mildly entertaining."

Jack did not seem convinced. "Ehhh…"

The warlord raised an eyebrow. "You aren't _scared_ of them, are you?"

Jack made a face. "A little."

Chase rolled his eyes.

"Well, come on, they're bears!" Jack exclaimed. "_And_ they've been pissed off by being made to dance! I mean, _maybe _if they were on unicycles…"

"…what?"

"Unicycles are scientifically proven to reduce the intimidation factor of anything by 80%. It's nearly impossible to take things seriously when they're on a unicycle."

Chase stared. "Scientifically proven, you said. Scientifically proven by whom?"

"Me," said Jack. "I conducted extensive experiments involving hours of putting stuff on unic—what's wrong?"

Chase said nothing and shook his head, hiding his face in the palm of his hand.

**_750. Novel-_**

"Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase…!"

Chase flinched almost imperceptibly as he was quite soundly caught by his consort. His 'Spicer Antics' sense had been going off all morning and he'd really been hoping to get somewhere private before Jack found him.

But damn it all, he'd just been caught.

"Yes, Jack?" he asked in a very neutral tone.

A manuscript was shoved into his hands. "Read my novel," Jack sternly insisted.

Chase was momentarily relieved. A novel didn't _seem_ too ridiculous or annoying…until he saw the title.

"'Clicky Kisses?'" he read aloud. "You wrote a novel?"

Proudly, Jack grinned. "I was inspired by Stephenie Meyer," he declared.

He was met with a blank stare.

Jack decided to elaborate. "After seeing that steaming pile of bedazzled crap that Meyer chick wrote, I decided it was up to me to show the public what _real_ vampire romance is all about."

Chase was beginning to experience that familiar feeling of dread that meant he _really_ shouldn't ask. He asked anyway. "Oh, really?"

Jack's smile brightened and he pointed to two emoticons emblazoned upon the cover page, just under the title. "This is Loppy," he said, pointing to the little face made up of an equal sign and a capital 'f.' "He's a vampire and one of his fangs is longer than the other."

Chase was not sure what the correct response to that was, and so said nothing.

"And this one," he pointed to the other face, also made of a equal sign but this time with a capital 'e,' "is Tri. He has _three_ fangs instead of two."

"Does he, now?"

"Yeah!" Jack exclaimed, clearly excited. "Aren't they cute?"

Chase hesitated. "…I don't know that I'd say that."

Jack frowned. "Well, what's wrong with them?"

The dragonlord observed the tiny emoticon faces carefully before answering. "It seems to me that this is a story of two dork-vampires exiled from the rest of vampire society for being dorks."

"_And_ finding love in a fellow outcast!" Jack insisted. "It's, like, the perfect dork-love story!"

And Chase decided that he really couldn't (and _shouldn't_) argue with that. "Sure," he said, "let's go with that."

**...**

**A/N: WELCOME TO THE SEXY CHAPTER OF SEX. ENOJY THE SEXYTIEMS NAO.**

**_Quiet-_Possibly my favorite of this chapter. XD**

**_Acoustic-_Is that a Metalocalypse reference? Yes, it is!**

**_Pillow-_AND SO BEGINS TEH SEX. XD**

**_Call-_While planning this sexy chapter of Anthology, I realized I'd never really written any Chacky phone-sex. PROBLEM SOLVED. :D**

**_Donkey Punch-_ Errr...no comment.**

**_Resting-_Considering this is the transition-prompt between the first half and the second half of the chapter, I figured a breather was in order. ;P**

**_Size-_Yes, I totally just went there.**

**_Cheat-_ Sexytiems are done with! From this point on, it's just plain silliness. XD**

**_Dancing Bear-_Thank you, Silvarbelle, for an excellent prompt! :D**

**_Novel-_This one requires a teensy bit of explanation. When I chat online with my friends, I make a smiley face like so: = D Some of you may be noticing, looking down at your keyboard, that the F is very close to the D. Well, yes, that's exactly what happened- a single typo created Loppy, or by his full name, the Lopsided Vampire. His beau came about later when one of my friends made a similar typo, but with an E instead of an F. Their beautiful love was born.**

**=F & =E**

**Anyways, that's Chapter 75! Thanks for reading and I hope you all liked it! :D**


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